Things you didn’t know about these top megastructures of the world 

It’s surprising how intelligent mankind is. We have gone from living in natural caves, to straw huts to high rises. Yet, we don’t stop! From creates structures, architects have now moved on to megastructures!  

The term megastructure originally appeared in the architectural discourse in the late 1950s and 1960s, but the notion of what this term implies is changing constantly. A megastructure is essentially an extraordinarily enormous, artificial, self-supporting structure, according to the current definition. A handful of existent constructions can be counted under these criteria, even though true city-sized megastructures are still only encountered in science fiction. A megastructure was described by architect Ralph Wilcoxon in 1968, as a collection of modular pieces that could be added to and expanded virtually eternally. 

Here is a list of some of the famous megastructures in the world: 

• Beijing airport, Beijing, China 
• Palace of Parliament (Bucharest, Romania) 
• Burj Khalifa, Dubai 
• Kingdom Tower, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia 
• Crossrail, London, UK 
• Hotel Abraj Kudai, Mecca, UAE 
• Chernobyl reactor, Ukraine 
• Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge 

Let’s look at a few of these amazing feats of engineering. 

Beijing airport 
Beijing Daxing International Airport is located on the border of Beijing and Langfang in China. This airport is remarkable not only for its size but also for its innovation. It is also called the ‘starfish’. It was designed by Zaha Hadid Architects, a British architecture and design firm. Construction of this airport started in December 2014, and it opened for operations in September 2019. The construction was led by chief engineer Guo Yanchi. Beijing Daxing Airport was built for CNY120 billion ($17 billion approximately) and is anticipated to handle 72 million passengers by 2025. With a total area of 7.5 million square feet, this makes it the largest single-terminal airport in the entire world. The terminal is constructed so that it would take a passenger no longer than 8 minutes to move from one end to the other. Additionally, Daxing Airport has 4 runways and parking for 150 aeroplanes. This airport is furnished with what every luxury a traveller could desire. 

Fact file: 

• It is one of the world’s most expensive airports. 
• It combines modern building techniques with traditional components.  
• The size of the airport is comparable to 97 soccer fields. While there are airports with more than one terminal that are larger than this, but this holds the world record for being the largest single terminal airport. 
• It is anticipated that by 2040, the airport will be able to receive more than 120 million passengers, along with 20 million tonnes of cargo. 
• To build this enormous airport, around 11 towns were destroyed and about 20,000 people were relocated before its construction.  

Palace of the Parliament (Bucharest, Romania) 
The Palace of Parliament is also known as the ‘Republic's House’ and is located in Dealul Spirii in Bucharest. The Palace of Parliament holds the record for being the heaviest building in the world, weighing about 4.10 million tonnes and the second largest administrative building in the world. With a team of almost 700 architects, the structure was created over the course of 13 years (1984-1997) under the direction of chief architect Anca Petrescu, a Romanian architect and politician. This building is a spectacular display of what Romania is because every single piece used during construction came from Romania. The building has 1,100 rooms and 20,000 spaces for cars to park beneath. This building not only houses the Romanian Parliament but also 3 museums and a centre for international conferences. Additionally, a nuclear bunker has been constructed beneath the building. It is estimated that every year, heating and electricity bills for this building cross over 6 million US dollars! 

Fact file: 

• The Palace of Parliament is among the very few places that is visible from space.  
• The People's House was constructed to hold between 20,000 and 100,000 people. It is estimated that around 3000 workers died during its construction. 
• The Palace of Parliament has mysterious tunnels present underneath the building. They were designed to provide an escape route for Nicolae Ceausescu (Romanian communist leader born;1918, died;1989). 

Burj Khalifa 
The Burj Khalifa is the world's tallest structure and a renowned landmark. This structure is a true technical marvel and symbolises the conceptual heart and spirit of Dubai. This spectacular building stands 828 metres tall and is located close to the Dubai mall. It opened to visitors in 2010. The Burj Khalifa is designed by Skidmore, Owings and Merrill (an American architectural, urban planning, and engineering firm), which also designed the World Trade Center in New York City, and the Willis Tower (the Sears Tower) in Chicago.  

Fact file: 

• The Burj Khalifa's sphere's tip can be visible from up to 95 kilometres away. 
• It was constructed using more than 110,000 tonnes of concrete, 55,000 tonnes of steel rebar, and 22 million man-hours. 
• The amount of concrete used in the construction of the Burj Khalifa is equivalent to 100,000 elephants.  
• With a total of 160 floors, Burj Khalifa holds the record for having the most floors in the world. 
• The elevator at the Burj Khalifa is the tallest in the world; operates at a speed of 60 kilometres per hour.