Gensler Announces Tallest Building in China Tops Out - Heraldonline.com
Shanghai Tower Completes Historical Ascension
SHANGHAI Topping out ceremonies were held today to mark the completion of the core structure of the Shanghai Tower. The last beam was placed atop the 632-meter (2,073-foot) building designed by global design and architecture firm Gensler. Shanghai Tower is a beacon of sustainable design strategies, anchoring the citys Lujiazui commercial district with prominent public spaces in a series of nine vertical communities.
Shanghai Tower represents a new way of defining and creating cities, said Art Gensler, FAIA, Founder of Gensler. By incorporating best practices in sustainability and high-performance design, by weaving the building into the urban fabric of Shanghai and drawing community life into the building, Shanghai Tower redefines the role of tall buildings in contemporary cities and raises the bar for the next generation of super-highrises.
Shanghai Tower is located in the Lujiazui Finance and Trade Zone, an area of Shanghai that was farmland a little over 20 years ago. The area is Chinas first super-tall district, as Shanghai Tower rises to complete a trio of towers including the adjacent Jin Mao Tower and Shanghai World Financial Center.
Shanghai Tower will house Class-A office space, retail, a luxury hotel and cultural venues. The uppermost floors will feature the worlds highest observation deck, while the towers podium will offer a high-end retail environment with a major event space. Below-grade facilities include retail, connections to the Shanghai Metro and three floors of parking.
With the topping out of Shanghai Tower, the Lujiazui trio will serve as a stunning representation of our past, our present and Chinas boundless future, said Jun Xia, Shanghai Tower design leader and Gensler principal. This tower takes inspiration from Shanghais tradition of parks and neighborhoods, recasting that history in a high-density, urban form symbolizing the emergence of modern Shanghai and China.
The projects developer is the Shanghai Tower Construction & Development Co., Ltd; Thornton Tomasetti is the structural engineer; Cosentini Associates are the mechanical, electrical and plumbing engineers; and the Architectural Design and Research Institute of Tongji University is the Local Design Institute. The development is slated for completion in 2014.
Tower Composition
Shanghai Tower is organized as nine cylindrical buildings stacked one atop the other. The inner layer of the double-skin façade encloses the stacked buildings, while the exterior façade creates the building envelope, which rotates 120 degrees as it rises and gives Shanghai Tower its distinctive, curving appearance. The spaces between the two façade layers create nine atrium sky gardens. Much like plazas and civic squares in traditional cities, the public sky atria offer spaces within Shanghai Tower for interaction and community gathering space with restaurants, cafés, coffee shops and convenience stores, as well as lush landscaping throughout. With sky gardens lining its perimeter, Shanghai Tower is literally enveloped in public spaces.
Shanghai Towers interior and exterior skins are transparent, establishing a visual connection between the towers interiors and the urban fabric of Shanghai. On the ground level, retail and event spaces, in tandem with abundant entrances on the site and a subway station under the building, continue the physical and visual connections between the tower and the city.
Shanghai Tower will have the worlds fastest elevators, with the Mitsubishi-designed, double-height cabs whisking building occupants and visitors skyward at 40 mph using innovative technologies designed specifically for the tower.
Sustainable Strategies
Sustainability is at the core of Shanghai Towers design. The façades taper, texture and asymmetry work in partnership to reduce wind loads on the building by 24 percent, offering a $58 million USD savings in overall building materials. The buildings transparent inner and outer skins admit maximum natural daylight, thereby reducing the need for electric light. The towers outer skin also insulates the building, reducing energy use for heating and cooling. The towers spiraling parapet collects rainwater, which is used for the towers heating and air conditioning systems.
Wind turbines located directly beneath the parapet generate on-site power for the upper floors of the building, with a 2,130kW natural gas-fired cogeneration system on site providing electricity and heat energy to the lower floors. Fully one third of the site will be green space with landscaping that cools the site. Overall, Shanghai Towers sustainable strategies will reduce the buildings carbon footprint by 34,000 metric tons per year; and the tower is targeting LEED Gold certification from the U.S. Green Building Council and the China Green Building Three Star rating.
For more on Shanghai Tower, please visit Gensler Design Update online.
About Gensler
Gensler is a global design firm, with 44 offices and 3,800 employees worldwide. Gensler helps clients succeed by focusing on the needs of the people they serve, whether they are employees, customers, sports fans, students, passengers or guests. Founded in 1965, Gensler has deep expertise in design and architecture across 20 practices, including commercial office buildings, professional services, retail, aviation, planning and urban design, entertainment and hospitality, sports stadia and education facilities. The firm also holds practices focusing on brand strategy, environmental graphic design, mission-critical facilities, and has recently invested in consulting for real estate workplace and sustainable design.
Genslers recent projects of note include Shanghai Tower, JetBlue T5 at JFK International Airport, Houston Ballet Center for Dance, Facebooks global headquarters, Incheon International Airport in South Korea, Farmers Field in Los Angeles, Dubai International Financial Center and Duke Universitys Kunshan Campus in China.
