Skyscrapers

Number one for me... Seagrams Building, NY

Mostly my tastes run to things like the NYC's Woolworth and [now gone] Singer Buildings, but this is pretty cool:

http://www.moma.org/exhibitions/2006/cctv.html

Do non-executed buildings count? The ultimate skyscraper for me: "Mile High" or "The Illinois", Frank Lloyd Wright 1956:

I like Koolhaas. The Seattle Public Library not so much: But the aforementioned CCTV looks very promising. In Austin, we have the Gotham-esque Frost Tower: But perhaps my favorite contemporary architect is Calatrava. Milwaukee Art Museum: Turning Torso (Sweden): Ciutat de les Arts i les Ciències (Valencia): Fordham Spire (Chicago, planned): In China, the aforementioned Bank of China tower is my favorite, the best of I.M. Pei's works. I find Two International Finance Center to be nothing special, just very tall. In Shanghai, the Oriental Pearl I find rather ponderous: But the Jin Mao Tower is the best of the new buildings:

Yokohama Landmark Tower

The Chicago Tribune Tower competition is an amazing compendium of early 1920s architecture.

I also let the way they included entries from the newspaper's own cartoonists.

The winning design by Hood & Howells was the famous gothic water tower, but the entries formed an exhibition that toured and gave people lots of ideas.

View from 52nd floor of Roppongi Hills Mori Tower, Roppongi Hills Mori Tower from the base

Is it just my ill-informed notions, or have we as a country fallen behind the rest of the world in skyscraper design?

Asia seems to be in the lead, which is understandable considering the growth of those economies, especially in Dubai, Shanghai and India. Some are quite dubious, such as the Beijing National Theater -- dubbed the "alien egg", truly an affront to The Forbidden City and Tiananmen Square. Singapore's Esplanade -- aka "The Durian" -- I like a bit better though: But the US has some exciting new projects, such as the 80 South St Calatrava residential tower in New York, which has been approved recently:

With the exception of the Bank of China building, I am completely unmoved by the buildings Jetblast posted. There's nothing there to match the sights you would see from a short wander round NY or Chicago.