Five of the world’s ten tallest skyscrapers are in China! One of my favorites among these is the Shanghai Tower due to its spiraling, transparent design and its multi-use spaces.
The Shanghai Tower is the tallest building in China, standing at 2,073 feet. It is located in Lujiazui, Shanghai’s financial district, next to two other skyscrapers, the Shanghai World Financial Center, completed in 2008, and the Jin Mao Tower, completed in 1999. This cluster of modern buildings now defines the skyline in Shanghai.
The Shanghai Tower was designed by the American architectural firm Gensler. The tower has a twisted, cylindrical design and is made of double-paned, transparent glass. This glass allows pedestrians to see inside the building, integrating it with the streets around it.
The tower is made up of nine cylindrical sections stacked on top of each other. Each of the nine sections has its own sky lobby, serving as a social hub for that section of the building. The different sections have multiple culture zones with gardens, restaurants and many shops. This concept is intended to create a vertical form of a traditional Shanghai street. In fact, the ground floor is a public market linked to the subway and the whole building is open to the public.
Construction on the Shanghai Tower began in November 2008 and concluded in 2015, although the observation deck on the 118th floor did not open until July 2016. Now, the observation deck is a popular tourist attraction since it provides a great panoramic view of the city. Another popular attraction in the Tower is SKY632, an art space on the 125th and 126th floors that features interactive multimedia images and music.
One salient feature of the Shanghai Tower is its elevators; they are the second fastest elevators in the world, traveling at 40mph to the top of the tower. Thus, people can arrive at the top from the ground floor in about 50 seconds!
In a short time, the Shanghai Tower has become an iconic and busy building in one of the busiest cities in the world.
