The Most Expensive Buildings in the World.
The most expensive buildings in the world cost a pretty penny. How much? Not millions, but billions.
In this video, we’re going to count down the top 10 most expensive buildings in the world.
Top 10 Most Expensive Architectural Buildings
(Listed in order)
10th Most Expensive Building in the World
One World Trade Center (A.K.A One World Trade or Freedom Tower) is the main building of the rebuilt World Trade Center complex in Lower Manhattan, New York City. One World Trade is the tallest building in the United States, the tallest building in the Western Hemisphere and the 7th tallest in the world. Built in 2012, it’s the 10th most expensive piece of architecture in the world at $3.8B USD, inflating to $4.16B USD in today’s economy.
9th Most Expensive Building in the World
The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas (commonly referred to simply as The Cosmopolitan or The Cosmo) is a luxury resort casino and hotel on the Las Vegas Strip in Nevada. The resort opened on December 15, 2010, costing a mere $4.1B USD, inflating to 4.72b in today’s dollar amount.
8th Most Expensive Building in the World
Wynn Palace is the second luxury integrated resort from international resort developer Wynn Resorts in the Macau Special Administrative Region of the People’s Republic of China. Coming in at $4.2B USD in 2016, this Chinese luxury resort inflates to 4.84b in today’s dollar.
7th Most Expensive Building in the World
SoFi Stadium is a stadium and entertainment complex under construction in Inglewood, California, United States. The stadium will serve as the home for the Los Angeles Rams and Los Angeles Chargers of the NFL. Upon completion this year in 2020, it comes in at $4.9B USD dollars for construction.
6th Most Expensive Building in the World
Resorts World Sentosa (A.K.A RWS) is an integrated resort on the island of Sentosa, off the southern coast of Singapore. The key attractions include one of Singapore’s two casinos, a Universal Studios theme park, Adventure Cove Water Park, and S.E.A. Aquarium, which includes the world’s second largest oceanarium. The $4.93B USD resort was the third most expensive building ever constructed in 2010 – with a 2020 inflated cost of $5.7B USD
5th Most Expensive Building in the World
Apple Park is the corporate headquarters of Apple Inc., finished in 2017 in the US. Its scale and circular design by Norman Foster have earned the structure the nickname “the spaceship”. Apple co-founder Steve Jobs wanted the campus to look less like an office park and more like a nature refuge. Eighty percent of the site consists of green space planted with drought-resistant trees and plants indigenous to the Cupertino area, and the centre courtyard of the main building features an artificial pond. The cost? Just $5B USD. Inflating to a mind-boggling price of $5.3B USD in today’s dollar.
4th Most Expensive Building in the World
Marina Bay Sands is an integrated resort fronting Marina Bay in Singapore, owned by the Las Vegas Sands corporation. At its opening in 2010, it was billed as the world’s most expensive standalone casino property at $5.5B USD. This grand architecture adjusts to a dollar price of $6.33B USD.
3rd Most Expensive Building in the World
Željava Air Base, finished in 1968, situated on the border between Croatia and Bosnia was the largest underground airport and military air base in Yugoslavia, and one of the largest in Europe. The complex was designed and built to sustain a direct hit from a 20-kiloton nuclear bomb, equivalent to the one dropped on Nagasaki. This military structure equating to a whopping $6.0B USD back in 1968, equivalates to an inflated dollar amount of $45.0B USD in 2020. That’s one expensive building.
2nd Most Expensive Building in the World
Olkiluoto Nuclear Power Plant is one of Finland’s two nuclear power plants. The plant consists of two boiling water reactors. A third reactor, Unit 3, is expected to be online in March 2021. In December 2012, the French multi-national building contractor, Areva, estimated that the full cost of building the reactor will be about €8.5 billion, totalling the cost of the plant to $12.4B USD. That’s a lot of money.
1st Most Expensive Building in the World
The Great Mosque of Mecca – Al-Masjid Al-Haram is the largest mosque in the world and the second largest building in the world. This mega building dates back to 638 and has undergone massive renovations and expansions. In 2008 the SA government spent a whopping $10.8B USD on expansions and a further $26.6B USD in 2017. No exact figures can be confirmed but estimations are around the $100.0B USD mark.
Since that’s an estimate though, let’s look down the road in Mecca just a few hundred metres away, stands the government-owned 120 story Abraj Al Bait hotel which is ‘officially’ regarded as the most expensive skyscraper in the world, with a construction price tag of $15.0B USD.
Resources Mentioned
Similar Episodes:
- Architecture Student Reacts to INCREDIBLE Winning Submissions from Architecture Competitions
- Final Year Architecture Student Explains INCREDIBLE 1:25 Scale Model
- 7 Reasons You SHOULD Study Architecture
Other Resources:
- Get access to your FREE online architecture course! 70 Hacks for Archi Students
- Check out the Successful Archi Student’s podcast!