Jeddah of Saudi Arabia to have the world's tallest tower

Prototype model of the tower

Skyscrapers are considered symbols of a city's money, power and, to some extent, hubris. The first building widely considered a modern skyscraper was the Wainwright Building in St. Louis. Opened in 1891 and designed by famed architect Louis Sullivan, it is ten stories tall. But with advancing technology and growing creativity, the ceaseless climb of the world's epic skyscrapers has resulted in the race to touch the sky.

The world's current tallest building is Burj Khalifa in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. It measures 2,717 feet (828 meters), or 160 stories. This record will be shattered when Kingdom Tower, a giant skyscraper planned for the Saudi Arabian city of Jeddah, is completed by 2016.

Designed by Chicago architectural firm Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill, the proposed Kingdom Tower will measure 3,280 feet (1,000 meters) and will feature a Four Seasons hotel, serviced apartments, luxury condominiums, offices and the world's highest observatory.

Saudi construction giant Saudi Binladen Group, owned by the family of slain al-Qaeda terror group leader Osama bin Laden, has been awarded the contract to build the Kingdom Tower. The construction of the tower is estimated to cost about $1.2 billion, while the cost of the entire Kingdom City project is pegged at $20 billion.

The current status of tallest towers in the world is below

But soon the above order of the tallest buildings in the world would be changed to the below predicted status.

As the limits of imagination continue to be pushed, the record of the tallest buildings in the world has been changing hands frequently over the past decade and a half.

Burj Khalifa was opened last January, just after Dubai's real estate crash. Constructed at a cost of $1.5 billion for the building, and a total cost of $20 billion, Burj Khalifa is a part of downtown Dubai, one of the major developmental programs undertaken in the Middle Eastern city famed for flamboyant projects.