You're hitting our fair-use limits. Hitting our limits.
SKYDB services
Get export credits Wrongly blocked?
SKYDB

SKYDB Building database

Tall buildings worldwide, with heights, construction status and the companies involved.

Rankings of tall buildings

Tall Building Markets

  • Global building statistics
  • Biggest cities worldwide
  • Country market overviews
  • Construction activity
  • Annual completions
Speaker at a lectern in front of a skyscraper presentation

SKYDB Awards

The community is honoring the best new skyscrapers. A legacy since 1999.

View award winners

SKYDB Membership

Create a free account, choose Premium or apply to contribute as a volunteering Editor.

Choose your access

SKYDB Community

SKYDB Editors visiting a skyscraper construction site

Join for free

Become a volunteering Editor optionally or get Editor rights with Premium.

Compare memberships

SKYDB Products

Professional building research, data exports and API access, plus advertising offerings.

Research & data

Consulting & advertising

SKYDB Insights charts showing buildings by decade, status, use, floor count and height

SKYDB Insights

Professional research into buildings and participating companies.

View Insights plans

Tall buildings, tracked.

SKYDB is collecting verifiable information about buildings.

About SKYDB

Using SKYDB

Chongqing skyline beside the river

Who we are

SKYDB is the source for tall building information worldwide.

About SKYDB

Interactive building map

Explore all projects on an interactive map anywhere on earth.

Free map access

Upgrade your map experience

SKYDB map with building pins and a building record in Lower Manhattan

Join SKYDB

The map is for registered members. Create a free account to explore.

Create a free account
definition strict definition

ornamental rail

A building's architectural summit formed by a decorative roof or ridge fence, normally of metal.

An ornamental rail is a decorative fence along a ridge or on a roof. It is normally made of metal, and is distinguished from a balustrade which is a sculpted railing made of masonry.

The fence can run along a ridge or elsewhere on the roof. It must form the highest architectural element to describe the building's summit.

A balustrade has closely spaced molded posts and is a separate form. The ornamental rail is normally metal, although that material is not stated as mandatory.