The post we did using Google Earth last week was a lot of fun so we thought we’d do another one with a different angle. This week’s theme focuses on buildings so enormous that the roof structures create landscapes in and of themselves. Once again, Google-Earth is so overwhelming that we needed some rules:
1. The buildings must be conditioned space (heated/cooled) thereby excluded many structures like bridges and open air stadiums.
2. Completed photos of the buildings must be available, which made it interesting because some amazing structures like the Dubai Tower are almost complete at 159 floors and must look amazing from space but Google’s images of the area are more than three years old and only show the first several floors of the tower.
3. Each image is taken at an elevation of 7,000 feet above the Earth’s surface.
4. Each image is cropped to show a 2 mile x 2 mile swatch; the images are all at the same scale for comparison.
Kicking it off is the largest usable space in the world; right here in our own backyard is the Boeing Plant in Everett, Washington, USA: 398,000 m² (4.3 million sq ft) 13.3 million m³ (470 million cu ft). Take the Boeing Plant Tour next time you’re in the neighborhood.
Aerium Brandenburg in Germany: 70,000 m² (753,000 sq ft) 5.2 million m³ (184 million cu ft). Originally constructed as the assembly area for a giant airship which was never built.
Aalsmeer Flower Auction in Aalsmeer, The Netherlands: 990,000 m² (10.6 million sq ft). Is it odd to anyone else that the 2nd largest building in the world is just a really big flower shop?
The Pentagon in Arlington County, USA: 610,000 m² (6.6 million sq ft)
Hong Kong International Airport in China: 564,000 m² (6.1 million sq ft)
Palace of the Parliament in Bucharest, Romania: 330,000 m² (3.6 million sq ft)
Bannister Federal Complex in Kansas City, USA: 290,000 m² (3.1 million sq ft)
The Basilica of Our Lady of Peace in Yamoussoukro, Côte d’Ivoire is the largest church in the world: 30,000 m² (323,000 sq ft)
The Rashtrapati Bhavan in New Delhi, India is the largest presidential residence in the world: 19,000 m² (200,000 sq ft)
Kansai International Airport Terminal in Osaka, Japan is the longest building in the world: 1,700 m (5,580 ft)
The Karl-Marx-Hof in Vienna, Austria is the longest residential building in the world: 1,100 m (3,610 ft)
King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia: 225,000 m² (738,188 sq ft)
For more check out Wikipedia’s list…