Supertalls and Megastructures

As society and technology continues to advance on an exponential scale, it is no wonder that structures are being classified into categories extreme as "supertalls" and "megastructures". These two categories are reserved for the world's largest, tallest, and most grand structures. The terms "Supertall" and "Megastructure" are jargon coined by skyscraper enthusiasts around the world with generally agreed upon terms. Supertalls and megastructures are often so celebrated because of the economics involved in making such structures possible.

Supertall

Although an official definition does not exist, a supertall is generally a completed structure that is at least 300 meters or 1000 feet tall. If a building is being proposed, it must be at least 1 kilometer tall to be classified as a supertall.

The term supertall may be applied to any structure, including buildings, free standing towers, guyed masts, and bridge pillars.

There are about 1,150 supertalls worldwide, most of which are guyed masts in the United States.

Megastructures

Megastructures are usually only visions or science fiction due to their enormous proportions. A megastructure should have at least one dimension that is several hundred kilometers. Popularized in the 1960's, megastructures also including the concept of an encased city within a single building, often referred to as a hyperstructure.

There are only a few structures built that are considered megastructures:

• Great Wall of China
• Rice Terraces of the Philippine Cordilleras.

Roads or railways are not usually considered megastructures because of their relative simplicity.