I thought I'd offer some assistance to any super villains who may be looking for a menacing building to call headquarters. Admittedly they're quite noticeable so unless you have the necessary means to defend the building or are managing to operate under the radar, you may want to look for something underground. All chosen structures look either creepy as hell, flat-out brutal, or both, and as far as I know none or on the market at present so you may have to use underhand tactics to actually move in.
1. Jin Mao tower, Pudong, Shanghai
photo sources: 1, 2, 3
photo sources: 1, 2, 3
1. Jin Mao tower, Pudong, Shanghai
Jin Mao tower is absolutely huge at 1380ft, a feature which will enable
you to survey the surrounding area for miles assuming cloud cover is
minimal. As for sturdiness, it's been designed by hardcore
architects/engineers and as a result can withstand winds up to 200km/h
and earthquakes to a maximum of 7 on the Richter scale. inside, the
building is home to one of the tallest atriums on planet earth (375ft),
a perfect place for henchmen to dispose of unwanted guests.
photo sources: 1, 2, 3
2. Moser tower, Naperville, Illinois
Moser tower is basically a bell tower and as such doesn't contain a
huge amount of habitable space for evil operations. The reason for its
inclusion here is purely an aesthetic one - of all the structures here,
it looks the best in terms of badassness - so I'd suggest maybe
building a lair underneath and using the tower itself solely as a
front. One potential positive is that, as it's essentially an enormous
musical instrument, you could adapt it to play any villainous music at
will. Alternatively, the giant bells could surely be used as some kind
of torture device if a pesky human were attached.
photo sources: 1, 2, 33. Fernsehturm Berlin, Berlin
The fernsehturm is a TV tower in Berlin and it's extremely tall at 1207ft. it could easily serve as a European headquarters and would be pretty difficult for non-airborne enemies to infiltrate as all the prime living space is located 669ft up in a sphere, its only point of entry located at the bottom of the tower's shaft on ground level. also, within the sphere is a revolving restaurant, a feature which could easily be transformed into a revolving control centre / spinning turret, although you may have to speed up the mechanism as it's currently making just one revolution per 30 minutes.
4. Oriental Pearl Tower, Pudong, Shanghai
As with the fernsehturm, pearl tower is a TV tower, but this one is located in shanghai and looks far more menacing and sturdy. It's basically a fernsehturm on steroids: instead of one supporting vertical column, it has 3. Instead of one large sphere, this one has 2. plus it's also taller at 1535ft. another benefit is that it's located just supercharged spitting distance from Jin Mao tower (see above), meaning a firmer grasp over shanghai could be quickly attained providing both towers were commandeered.
5. Taipei 101, xinyi district, Taipei
Taipei 101 has a lot going for it in terms of evil HQ suitability. Its height is a staggering 1670ft. it can withstand practically all natural disasters and presumably a few of the attacks you'll likely be subject to. visually, it resembles a giant evil robot and completely dominates the surrounding area, instantly sending out an intimidating message before you've even settled in. it's also the only tall structure to be seen in that particular area meaning attacks from all sides will be visible providing you have all corners manned.
photo sources:
