The increasing scarcity of usable space in urban life and the creation of narrow plots for construction have led to a new architectural invention: Super Slender Buildings. These structures, with extremely narrow base areas compared to their height, push the boundaries of modern design, architecture, and engineering. Rising meters into the sky, these slender skyscrapers withstand high wind loads and structural oscillations, shaping city skylines.
Here are the world’s 10 super-slender skyscrapers:
1. 111 West 57th (Steinway Tower)
Location: New York, US
Architect: SHoP Architects
Year: 2022
Designed by SHoP Architects, 111 West 57th Street holds the title of the world’s slenderest skyscraper, with an approximate width-to-height ratio of 1:24. Rising to 453 meters, the tower is a bold interpretation of what is possible within the boundaries of the Midtown Manhattan zoning plan. While the north side reaches the apex of the building, the south side creates a stepped form with a series of setbacks. These setbacks serve as space for the terracotta ornamentation atop each column of the east and west facades.
Unlike conventional uniform glass façades, Steinway Tower expresses its identity through a neoclassical aesthetic. Steinway Tower, which aligns with the tradition of classic towers like One Wall Street, 30 Rockefeller Center, or the Empire State Building, is clad in terracotta and gold filigree. The terracotta is modeled into sequentially varying profiles, extruded, glazed, and stacked to form a subtly undulating pattern that resembles a gently breaking wave.
As a result, the façade presents both a contemporary and historically rooted appearance. The staggered placement of these elements along the facade creates a distinctive moiré pattern that changes dramatically depending on the light or distance from which it is viewed.
2. Highcliff
Location: Hong Kong Island, Hong Kong, China
Architect: DLN
Year: 2003
Highcliff is a luxury residential tower located on Hong Kong Island. The building reaches a height of 252 meters and contains a total of 75 floors. Positioned on the southern slope of Happy Valley, the tower has a slenderness ratio of 1:20. Designed by DLN, the building’s overall form is particularly harmonious with its location and takes advantage of the views of Hong Kong Harbor. Avoiding blatant and ostentatious elements, Highcliff emphasizes a simple and restrained visual approach throughout. The curtain wall and glass choices create a harmonious relationship with the wooded slope and the sky beyond.
At the roof level, interconnected water tanks serve as a dynamic mass damper system, counteracting oscillations caused by Hong Kong’s seasonal typhoons. As a result, HighCliff is less exposed to wind-induced stresses compared to a rectangular building of similar height.
3. 15 Toronto Street
Location: Toronto, Canada
Architect: BDP Quadrangle
Built in the 1960s on the site of a 10-story office building, the 54-story 15 Toronto Street is one of the world’s super slender skyscrapers. This mixed-use tower, comprising office spaces, residential units, and other amenities, is known as a pencil tower because its height is at least ten times greater than its width. Designed by BDP Quadrangle, the building occupies a constrained urban plot and features a broader base that tapers as it rises, enhancing stability, reducing structural impact at street level, and maximizing usable floor area.
Located next to a 19th-century heritage building, 15 Toronto Street incorporates a distinctive “belt” at the 11th floor, expressed as a subtle recess framed by columns on the façade. This belt, which narrows the width of the skyscraper, prevents pedestrians from feeling overwhelmed by the building’s height when viewed from the ground.
4. Central Park Tower
Location: New York, US
Architect: Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill Architecture
Year: 2020
At 472 meters tall, Central Park Tower, designed by Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill Architecture, is one of the tallest residential buildings and, with an approximate 15:1 width-to-height ratio, is one of the slimmest skyscrapers in the world. As the tower rises vertically, its corners are gradually set back, creating a series of indentations. This strategy helps balance wind loads, allows for optimized unit layouts on upper floors, and provides private terraces for select residences.
One of Central Park Tower’s most striking design features is the cantilever, located 290 feet above ground level and shifting the tower’s body eastward. With floor-to-ceiling windows offering expansive city and panoramic views, the building contains 179 residences ranging from studio suites to one- to four-bedroom apartments, as well as full-floor duplex and triplex homes. The program is organized in differentiated vertical tiers, separated by main mechanical floors distributed throughout the tower.
5. Trengunter Tower III
Location: Hong Kong Island, Hong Kong, China
Architect: Rocco Yim
Year: 1993
Trengunter Towers, located in the Mid-Levels Central area of Hong Kong Island, is a luxury residential complex consisting of three high-rise apartment buildings that offer an exclusive living experience. Built 12 years after the completion of the first two, Trengunter Tower III, at 219.9 meters, is the tallest building in the complex. With 68 floors, it is also one of the world’s slenderest buildings and contains a total of 187 residential units, typically four apartments per floor.
Offering a more advanced and modern aesthetic compared to the other towers in the complex, Trengunter Tower III emphasizes verticality and efficiency in a high-density urban environment. Constructed entirely of reinforced concrete, the tower incorporates high-strength materials and structural support beams designed to reduce wind loads and ensure stability. This robust structural system supports the building’s slender profile, minimizing sway while maximizing usable living space.
6. Selene
Location: New York, US
Architect: Foster + Partners
Year: 2019
Selene, designed by Foster + Partners, is one of the world’s slenderest buildings, with a height-to-width ratio of 15:1. Adjacent to SOM’s 1952 Lever House and Mies van der Rohe’s 1958 Seagram Building, this 61-story residential tower complements its distinguished neighbors with its slender, minimalist geometric form. The tower’s slim structure creates a narrow floor plan, allowing interiors to fill with natural light and offering spectacular city views from every direction. Containing a total of 94 residences, the building features two main typologies: “Gallery Lofts,” designed with an art-gallery-like spatial approach and detailed finishes, and “Tower Residences,” located on the upper floors with higher ceilings and panoramic city views.
Selene, with its corrugated glass and pristine white facade, is designed as a nine-story projection adjacent to the main 211-meter tower. The entrance, positioned to complement the Seagram Building’s 53rd Street entrance and pavilion, is concealed beneath an illuminated canopy.
7. 211 Broad Street
Location: Birmingham, UK
Architect: Glancy Nicholls Architects
Year: 2022
With its narrow floor plan and 36 stories, 211 Broad Street is the UK’s first super-slender skyscraper, standing at 116.5 meters high and just 9.5 meters wide. Inspired by Birmingham’s metalworking industry, its design also references the glass factory across from the ‘glass box’ surrounding the frame. Featuring a modern and striking facade, the building’s rooftop sky garden offers unparalleled views of the city skyline. Transforming a narrow plot into an apartment hotel, 211 Broad Street houses 264 independent rooms and various amenities, including a bar, restaurant, gym, and residents’ lounge.
8. 53 WEST 53
Location: New York, US
Architect: Jean Nouvel
Year: 2019
Rising above New York’s iconic Museum of Modern Art, 53 West 53 is a luxurious residential tower with a distinctive, visionary sculptural form. The building’s striking architecture is shaped as a creative response to its context, reflecting both the forces of nature and the vibrancy of the surrounding streetscape. Through a combination of technical innovation and meticulous attention to detail, the tower achieves expansive interior spaces. Shaped by the alchemy of light and shadow, the tower eliminates the need for interior columns, providing spacious and airy living spaces filled with natural light.
Standing approximately 320 meters tall with 77 floors, 53 West 53 has a slenderness ratio of 12:1, making it one of the world’s thinnest skyscrapers. As one of the tallest buildings in the city, its silhouette is an homage to the iconic buildings that adorn New York’s skyline. Defined by gold and silver foil recesses, its exterior contrasts with the sky while simultaneously integrating with it.
9. Phoenix Apartments
Location: Melbourne, Australia
Architect: Fender Katsalidis Architects
Year: 2014
Located among larger and bulkier buildings, the super-slender Phoenix Apartments stand out as a unique and singular object within Melbourne’s urban skyline. The building’s verticality engages with its surrounding context, while also showcasing a sculptural tower with elegant proportions. The 28-storey building rises to a height of 24.3 meters and achieves an exceptional aspect ratio of 1:13, made possible by its narrow width of just 6.8 meters on a deep and constrained site. This narrow footprint allows the building to achieve views from significant heights without disrupting street views or neighboring buildings with volume or shadow.
10. Madison Square Park Tower
Location: New York, US
Architect: KPF
Year: 2017
Rising high towards the sky in Manhattan’s Flatiron neighborhood, Madison Square Park Tower is one of the world’s slimmest skyscrapers, with a base ratio of 13:1. The building’s crystalline form widens both to the east and west as it rises. This system, which provides wider floor areas towards the top, allows residents to enjoy panoramic, unobstructed views.
As a landmark of the historic Midtown area, the tower’s asymmetric, polygonal shape creates a deliberate contrast with the rectangular Met Life Building to the north and One Madison to the west. Viewed from the park, the silhouette of the tower’s summit is inspired by the dramatic, bow-like appearance of the Flatiron Building a block away, while the curves of the curtain wall play with the reflections of the sun, changing the building’s appearance throughout the day.
Super-slender skyscrapers, which are at least ten times taller than they are wide, combine height and elegance. These structures, frequently seen in cities like New York and Hong Kong, where space constraints are severe, offer important clues about how denser and vertical cities might take shape in the future.
