**1. Introduction**

High-rise buildings play an increasingly important role in contemporary architecture. Their raising is a necessity for the process of population growth and its concentration in cities, as well as for the high demand for areas in city centers [1]. It can be observed the dynamic development of their construction in terms of both quantity and quality [2]. There are plans to build 219 high-rise buildings worldwide in 2019. According to the Global Tall Buildings Database of the CTBUH (Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat) until now were erected 1647 buildings taller than 200 m. The high-rise building construction is characterized by high demand of construction technology and complex engineering works [3].

In contemporary architecture, designers go beyond the framework of standard codified construction assumptions in order to provide additional and unusual aesthetic experiences [4]. Geometric shapes, impressive in terms of body and scale, are used for this purpose, as well as the newest material technologies, thanks to which skyscrapers can be classified as eco-buildings.

The change in the approach in building design in the last two decades is reflected in the models for shaping a sustainable, energy-saving environment, which are specified in the context of comparable methods for assessing buildings with various criteria (quality assessment tools, including Leed). These changes are evidenced by many documents, including the Aalborg Charter [5], the European Charter for Solar Energy in Architecture and Urban Planning [6], and the White Book of the Architects' Council of Europe [7]. Energy-efficient architecture is promoted by such architects as Norman Foster [8], Renzo Piano [9], Thomas Herzog [10] and Gilles Perraudin [11].

The main trend among new high rise buildings is the striving to achieve zero energy, which is associated with Leed certification [12]. Obtainment of Leed v4 certification at the Platinum level means the highest green building standard in the world. Bryant Park (New York, NY, USA) became the first high-rise building in the world to attain this certificate. Other buildings to achieve the Leed v4 certificate include, among others, Shanghai Tower (Shanghai, China), Taipei 101 (Taipei, Taiwan) and Hearst Tower (New York, NY, USA).

One of the pro-ecological ideas is the design of bioclimatic skyscrapers, in which users' comfort is increased by greenery inside the buildings through the use of public terraces or multi-level atrias (Oasia Hotel, Singapore).

The problem of high building design particularly concerns problems related to the limitation of horizontal displacements of the building and ensuring its spatial rigidity, proper foundation and resistance to dynamic wind action and seismic effects. The key design challenge associated with acting loads is the appropriate selection of the structural system, while at the same time optimizing its geometrical dimensions. The existing construction solutions mainly differ in their way of transmitting horizontal forces from the wind and seismic impacts on the foundations. A sophisticated construction system allows building in seismic areas with strong wind (Tokyo Sky-tree, Tokyo) and artificially created land (United Tower, Manama; Marina Bay Sands complex, Singapore).

The paper presents the architectural and constructional characteristics of selected modern high-rise buildings, which follow the trend constitutes an architectural paradigm that focuses on sustainable design.
