This article provides an overview of local pressure coefficients (Cp) on conventional and unconventional tall buildings with the application of CFD. Various modifications in architectural shapes on tall buildings eventually lead to a reduction in the wind load on building surfaces. The surface pressure on conventional (Square and rectangular) buildings is relatively different in comparison to unconventional tall buildings. This study is to assess the surface pressure coefficient over rectangular, taper and setback buildings. The assessed results show that the taper building has 7% Cp rise at ground level (y/H = 0.225) in the windward face, and 34% Cp fall at the middle level (y/H = 0.475) in the side face when compared with the rectangular building. Whereas for the setback building, Cp at ground level near setback (y/H = 0.225) has reduced to about 25% and about 6% at the middle level (y/H = 0.475) in windward than that in the rectangle building. Also, the side faces of the setback showed a 15% drop in Cp than other buildings. In leeward face, Cp is reduced to 56% near setback at the top of the building (y/H = 0.725). This assessment of the Cp on these buildings shows that the effect of setbacks on building reduces the pressure variation on all faces and the downstream wake vortices. © The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd 2021.