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GUINNESS WORLD RECORDS: OFFICIALLY AMAZING
S ince 1955, Guinness World Records has been the worlds most trusted, accurate, and recognized source for record-breaking achievements. From the tallest building to the fastest fire truck to the largest electric guitar, Guinness World Records is home to the most outrageous marvels of engineering, including the Officially Amazing feats in this book!
Guinness World Records holders are truly amazing, but all attempts to set or break records are performed under controlled conditions and at the participants own risk. Please seek out the appropriate guidance before you attempt any record-breaking activities.
GUINNESS WORLD RECORDS: MAN-MADE MARVELS! 2016 Guinness World Records Limited. The words GUINNESS WORLD RECORDS and related logos are trademarks of Guinness World Records Limited. Image of Tallest Residential Building () Alamy. All records and information accurate as of November 2015. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.
www.harpercollinschildrens.com
Library of Congress Control Number: 2016936057
ISBN 978-0-06-234180-8
EPub Edition September 2016 ISBN 9780062341815
16 17 18 19 20 PC/RRDC 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
FIRST EDITION
2016 Guinness World Records Limited.
The words GUINNESS WORLD RECORDS and related logos are trademarks of Guinness World Records Limited.
Design by Erica De Chavez
G uinness World Records is home to fascinating, immense, and breathtaking feats of engineering. In this section, discover awe-inspiring architecture and awesome human-made sculpturesfrom the worlds tallest buildings to the longest bridges and supersize statues. Prepare to be amazed.
The worlds tallest building, the Burj Khalifa Tower, stands 2,716 feet, 6 inches above Dubai, United Arab Emirates (UAE), casting a monstrous shadow across this desert city. Completed on December 30, 2009, this breathtaking building has been an impressive example of architectural engineering ever since.
Serving guests in the Burj Khalifa is a mighty tall orderthe tallest, in fact! Thankfully, the worlds tallest building is also home to the highest restaurant from ground level. From Level 122 of the tower, patrons at Atmosphere enjoy a view of Dubai from 1,447 feet above the city. Order up... way up!
A real-life bridge over troubled waters... the Akashi Kaikyo Bridge, also known as the Pearl Bridge, is the longest cable suspension bridge, with a main span of 6,532 feet, or 1.24 miles. This engineering marvel links Honshu and Shikoku, Japan, across the Akashi Strait, an area known for some of the worst storms on Earth and some of the deadliest waters. Engineers designed the structure to withstand winds of 180 miles per hour (mph).
From the Gold Rush to rush hour, San Francisco, California, has a longand widehistory! On September 2, 2013, the east span of the San FranciscoOakland Bay Bridge opened, making it the worlds widest bridge. The bridge features a total deck width of 258 feet. Its 10 lanes of roadway support approximately 270,000 horn-honking vehicles every day.
BOLD BRIDGE-MAKING |
The Newport Transporter Bridge, which spans the River Usk in Wales, UK, stretches 594 feet, making it the longest transporter bridge. Constructed in 1906, the bridge still forms part of the British public road network, ferrying vehicles across the river on a gondola suspended by cables from an overhead track. It was designed by French engineer Ferdinand Arnodin. |
The San FranciscoOakland Bay Bridge opened in 1936 but was left crippled by the Loma Prieta earthquake in 1989. In 2002, restoration and replacement work began on the bridge at an estimated cost of $6.3 billion, making it not just the widest but also the most expensive bridge. |
First built in 1867, the Horai Bridge in Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan, holds the Guinness World Records title for the longest wooden footbridge. It measures 2,944 feet and would take, on average, nearly 1,200 steps to cross!
The Kokonoe Yume Bridge in Kokonoe, Japan, holds the record for the longest suspension bridge for pedestrians, spanning a length of 1,279 feet. In Japanese, the word yume means dream. But with its narrow, 5-foot-wide walkway, crossing this bridge might feel more like a nightmare if youre afraid of heights!
Ever dream of sleeping on a cloud? At JW Marriott Marquis in Dubai, UAE, formerly known as Emirates Park Towers Hotel & Spa, guests can sleep above them! As the worlds tallest hotel, JW Marriott Marquiss 77-floor twin towers stand 1,165 feet, 10 inches tall and feature 1,368 luxury rooms and 240 suites.