Australia plans tallest building

The Victorian state government said Australia 108 would become the world’s 19th tallest building and would be “an outstanding addition to Melbourne’s skyline”.

Architect Nonda Katsalidis said the tall, slender building which will have 646 apartments, a 288-room six-star hotel plus retail and office space, was designed to throw a spotlight on the city’s international identity.

“We don’t have an Opera House (like Sydney) but we have a complex culture and all those ideas were thrown into this project,” Katsalidis told ABC radio.

“The hotel at the top is designed as a starburst. We took the inspiration from the stars on the Australian flag,” he added.

The world’s tallest building is Dubai’s Burj Khalifa at 828 metres high while Europe’s tallest skyscraper, the Shard in London, stands at 310 metres (1,017 feet).

The current tallest residential building in the southern hemisphere is the Q1 tower on Queensland’s Gold Coast in Australia, which soars 323 metres to 71 storeys.