Vertical Aspirations: The Proposed Shanghai World Financial Building (SWFB).

In 1979 the ten tallest buildings in the world were in North America. In 1999
six of them were in Asia. In the race for the world's tallest building, the
original proposed height of the SWFB was 1518 feet, 35 feet taller than the
Petronas Towers in Malaysia. Developer Minoru Mori -- fiercely competing
against the likes of proposed towers in Chicago, Hong Kong and Melbourne --
has since upped his plans to make it taller but will not disclose the exact
specifications.

Included in the plans and unique to the building, the hole through the top
floors of the skyscraper will include an open-air observatory, the world's
highest. (Developer Minoru Mori from Japan; design architect Kohn Pedesen
Fox Associates PC of New York.)