Located on the Inner Harbor of Baltimore, Maryland, the Baltimore World Trade Center is the world's tallest regular pentagonal-based skyscraper (the pentagonal-based JPMorgan Chase Tower in Houston is taller, but is not regular). It was designed by the architectural firm Pei Cobb Freed & Partners, with the principal architects being Henry N. Cobb and Pershing Wong. Planning and design of the building began in April 1966. Construction started in October 1973. The building was completed in January 1977, and its construction cost was of $22 million. Rising above the one-acre plaza where it stands between Pratt Street and the harbor, the building is 30 stories tall when its basement, lobby level and upper utility level are included in the count. Gross floor space covers . Major building components include of office floors, a lobby of , a basement of and of ground level plaza. Significance of building's name The building's name identifies its purpose of accommodating "activities and services devoted to the promotion of world trade" as required for licensing of this name by the World Trade Centers Association. Baltimore is one of 16 charter members of the World Trade Centers Association. The landmark tower houses the headquarters of the Maryland Port Administration, the Maryland Department of Business and Economic Development and the World Trade Center Institute. The World Trade Center Institute is a member of the World Trade Centers Association and operates as a private, non-profit international business membership organization. Alignment and lighting The building was positioned so that a corner points out toward the waters of the Inner Harbor, suggesting the prow of a ship. Perched at the Harbor's edge, the building appears to rise out of the water when viewed from certain vantage points. It presents a frontal plane toward the city, across a broad plaza between the building and Pratt Street. In the base at each of the building's five recessed corners, 4,500-watt xenon spotlights dramatically illuminate the building at night, from the ground up, with oversized parabolic mirrors at the top of the five corners then reflecting the light outward in brilliant V-shaped beams. The "beacon" effect was loosely inspired by lighthouses found along the Chesapeake Bay. This signature lighting scheme, designed by Ray Grenald, is visible in the Baltimore skyline from seven to 10 miles away under favorable weather conditions. Installed in 1994, the xenon lighting system replaced 1,000-watt incandescent lamps originally installed at