Nowadays, skyscrapers adorn the skyline of almost every major city in the world. These colossal engineering marvels are often erected where land is expensive, and define the identity of this or that city. Like temples and palaces are remainders of the past greatness, skyscrapers are now considered to be symbols of economic power.
Every year, dozens new mega-structures are built worldwide. Emporis, a leading database of construction projects, made a list of the most impressive skyscrapers of 2012. Eleven buildings made the list in total, with three of the new buildings occupying the ninth position on the ranking.
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9th Place: Zhengzhou Greenland Plaza. Located in Zhengzhou, China, the Zhengzhou Greenland Plaza houses office space and a 435-room hotel. The tower includes a mirror at the top that reflects sunlight down into the hotel's atrium.
9th Place: Dumankaya IKON, Istanbul. Turkey's Dumankaya IKON is an apartment building and shopping center. It's actually three interconnected towers that are joined on the 12th, 22nd, and 32nd floors.
9th Place: Renaissance Barcelona Fira Hotel — The Renaissance Barcelona Fira Hotel has a dazzling white façade except on the North side, which is black. The Barcelona hotel also has a vertical garden inside with over 300 palm trees.
8th Place: UniCredit Tower — The headquarters of UniCredit Bank, the UniCredit Tower is Italy's new tallest building. It can be seen from six miles away, and has LED lights that allow it to change color.
7th Place: Varyap Meridian — Istanbul's new Varyap Meridian has 1,500 apartments, a five-star hotel, and office space. The outside of the buildings are terracotta-colored near the ground, and transition into blue glass at the top.
6th Place: Pearl River Tower — Pearl River Tower in Guangzhou, China is one of the world's most energy-efficient skyscrapers. It uses wind energy and solar technology, and is the tallest skyscraper on this list at over 1,000 feet tall.
5th Place: House On Mosfilmovskaya 1 — At nearly 700 feet tall, the House on Mosfilmovskaya 1 is one of the ten tallest buildings in Russia. It has slanting, exposed-concrete columns at its base, and connects to its 430-foot-tall sister tower.
4th Place: The Bow — Called The Bow because of its gorgeous views of the Bow River, this 770-foot-tall skyscraper is the third-tallest in Canada. It's also 30 percent lighter than other buildings of its size thanks to the architects' innovative use of steel and glass.
3rd Place: Burj Qatar — The 46-story Burj Qatar in Doha, Qatar is topped by a spire that acts as a lightning conductor. The façade is made of multi-layered patterns designed to look like ancient Islamic screens to shade the building from the sun.
2nd Place: Al Bahr Towers — Abu Dhabi's Al Bahr Towers has photovoltaic panels that react to sunlight. As the sun moves, 2,000 umbrellas open and close to reduce interior thermal energy by 50 percent
1st Place: Absolute World Towers — This year's winner, Canada's Absolute World Tower 1 and 2 are a part of a residential tower complex. Due to their curved shape and the fact that no floor appears the same, the two towers were nicknamed "Marilyn Monroe."
The two twisting towers were built by MAD Ltd and Burka Architects, and selected by an international jury of experts from over 300 skyscrapers at least 100 meters tall completed last year.
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