Shanghai Tower – China

Shanghai Tower – China

The world’s second tallest building stands in the financial capital of China and contains the highest hotel in the world.

Profile:

  • Height: 632m
  • Floors: 128
  • Built: 2015
  • Use: residential + offices + hotel
  • Location: Shanghai – population 20m

Background

The world’s highest hotel occupies floors 84-110.

Part of a trio of skyscrapers – Jin Mao building stands at 421m and was completed in 1999; Shanghai World Financial Centre stands at 492m and was completed in 2008.

The tower is owned by Yeti Construction and Development, as part of the Shanghai city government.

Many floors remain empty currently. There are a number of reasons for this:

  • The local fire department has been refusing to grant permits to potential tenants. It is unclear if they simply have concerns about the safety of the building.
  • The design of the building creates an unusual floor shape, a sort of rounded triangle. This is impractical and wastes expensive floor space

Design

The building forms a 120˚ twist from top to bottom, reducing wind loads by a quarter. Less structural steel is then needed overall to retain stability even during typhoons, which are common in this area of China.

Divided into nine indoor ‘zones’ for different functions, including residential and hotel space.

The tower has a unique, double layered, curtain wall facade (think of essentially two tubes, one sitting inside the other). Other similar skyscrapers use a single layer of glass, which has to be made highly reflective to reduce heat absorption from outside. Here the building can be entirely transparent instead.

‘Refuge floors’ are incorporated into the design, providing safe spaces in the event of an emergency or fire.

Unique triangular cross section reducing wind loads and aiding stability

Construction:

The lift system is by Mitsubishi Electric. A total of 149 lifts serve the building, mixed double and single deckers. 3 ‘shuttle lifts’ serve the observation decks and can travel up to 20m/s – the fastest ever in a functioning building. In addition, the Shanghai Tower contains the world’s longest lift distance – 579m uninterrupted.

A tuned mass damper reduces swaying during high winds (including typhoons) and was the largest in the world at the time of completion.

Image credits for this page: justfunfacts.com