Uniquely shaped skyscrapers and the world's largest building raised the glory of Dubai to new heights — Dubai has the sixth best skyline in the world, ahead of cities like Chicago and Shanghai, according to a recently released report.

The ranking is based on a system, which assigns points to the number of high-rise buildings, which are then added together to give the city a final score.

According to the ranking of German real estate data mining company, Emporis, the top five skylines in the world are Hong Kong, New York City, Singapore, Moscow and Seoul.

Notably, Dubai came in sixth despite being significantly smaller and having fewer buildings than any other city in the top 10.

Seoul, for example, has 3,023 buildings counted for its total, compared to Dubai's 686.

In an interview with Khaleej Times, Niall McLoughlin, the senior vice-president of Damac properties, which is responsible for almost one third of all high-rise buildings in Dubai, said that the construction of skyscrapers is part of Dubai's efforts to establish itself as an innovator on the world stage.

"The mandate of the city is to develop things within Dubai, which are world class,” he said.

"It has the government's backing to bring to market innovative skyscrapers that push the envelope on engineering, design and push the envelope as iconic buildings in the global scheme of things.”

Aside from the 163-floor Burj Khalifa, Dubai's impressive skyline includes the 101-floor Princess Tower, the 90-floor 23 Marina building, the 86-floor Damac Heights building and the 83-floor Ocean Heights apartment building.

McLoughlin noted that unlike the other cities that found a place in the list, Dubai's skyscrapers are often uniquely shaped, with twists and curves.

"Here it's not just about building a tall building, which is square or rectangular. It's about bringing shapes, designs and pushing the envelope in engineering to develop building structures, which are really one of a kind,” he said.

The remaining four cities in the top-10 are Chicago, Shanghai, Sao Paulo and Bangkok. Abu Dhabi — home to the 92-floor Burj Mohammed bin Rashid and several other iconic skyscrapers — came in 34th places, in between the Chinese cities of Wuhan and Dalian.

Looking to the future, McLoughlin said he expects that the continued development and upcoming projects of Dubai may mean that the city's skyline becomes even more impressive in the future.

"In Dubai there is a lot of potential land that's good for development,” he noted.

"The ethos here is to build creative, build iconic, and the landscape certainly has a lot more space for further engineering wonders from an architectural perspective.”
Source: Khaleej Times