Recently Gensler broke ground on a soaring sustainably-built skyscraper that is set to become the tallest tower in China. The slender, elegantly spiraling Shanghai Tower will rise 632 meters, making it the latest super-tall to spring up in China’s rapidly developing Luijiazui Finance and Trade Zone. A beacon for a more sustainable future, the skyscraper will feature a high-performance façade that shelters no fewer than nine sky gardens, a rainwater recycling system, and a series of wind turbines perched beneath its parapet.
Gensler‘s latest skyscraper will grace the skyline of Shanghai’s Luijiazui Finance and Trade Zone, an area that was predominantly farmland just eighteen years ago. The region is now poised to become China’s first super-tall district as the Shanghai Tower joins the Jin Mao Tower and the Shanghai World Finance Center.
The Shanghai Tower is composed of a set of nine cylindrical buildings stacked on top of each other and surrounded by an inner façade. A triangular outer façade encloses the entire structure, creating room for nine sky gardens, which serve as public spaces. The mixed-use structure will house businesses, restaurants, cafés, coffee shops and convenience stores.
The skyscraper’s twisting, asymmetrical envelope features a carefully considered structure and texture that work together to reduce wind loads on the building by 24%, saving building materials and construction costs. The building’s spiraling parapet collects rainwater to be used for the tower’s heating and air conditioning systems, and wind turbines situated below the parapet generate on-site power. Additionally, the gardens nestled within the building’s double-skin façade create a thermal buffer zone while improving indoor air quality.
The Shanghai Tower is slated to be completed in 2014, and Art Gensler, Chairman of Gensler has stated: “We hope Shanghai Tower inspires new ideas about what sustainable tall buildings can be . . . We’ve lined the perimeter of the tower, top to bottom, with public spaces, and we’ve integrated strategic environmental thinking into every move. The tower is a stage that comes to life through the presence of people.”
+ Gensler
Wow dudethat is like MAJOR cool! I like it.
jess
http://www.anonymize.us.tc
Jeez, will they ever stop building in Pudong? Is there really a need for yet another enormous high-rise in Shanghai? Development in China is out of freaking control.
Inhabitat: I’d be curious to know if there are any conservation groups trying to preserve the remaining architectural heritage in Shanghai. Every time I’m there, more old buildings have been torn down to make way for shiny new towers. That would be a great story, if it exists…
“I’d be curious to know if there are any conservation groups trying to preserve the remaining architectural heritage in Shanghai. Every time I’m there, more old buildings have been torn down to make way for shiny new towers. That would be a great story, if it exists…”
This was the topic of a photo-essay book called something like ‘Disappearing Shanghai’, which came out about five years ago. The author described how a sleeker, Ultra-modern version of Shanghai was burying the old city like a steam roller. It is almost as though one world was invading, and physically removing another world which is in it’s place. The author of the book was taking photos of all of the charming old buildings, businesses, and residences of Shanghai which were being swept away by a Chinese government intent on modernizing. I recall a very interesting photograph of what might have been a slum, with the futuristic skyline in the backdrop.
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professorzed says:
December 8, 2008 at 2:05 pm
“I’d be curious to know if there are any conservation groups trying to preserve the remaining architectural heritage in Shanghai. Every time I’m there, more old buildings have been torn down to make way for shiny new towers. That would be a great story, if it exists…”
“This was the topic of a photo-essay book called something like ‘Disappearing Shanghai’, which came out about five years ago. The author described how a sleeker, Ultra-modern version of Shanghai was burying the old city like a steam roller. It is almost as though one world was invading, and physically removing another world which is in it’s place. The author of the book was taking photos of all of the charming old buildings, businesses, and residences of Shanghai which were being swept away by a Chinese government intent on modernizing. I recall a very interesting photograph of what might have been a slum, with the futuristic skyline in the backdrop.”
This comment coupled with the building with two round balls on it in the backdrop remind me of the plot of the robots movie.
Actually, the historic buildings of Shanghai are on the other side of the river. The area in which Shanghai Tower is being built was literally farmland 20 years ago.
What’s wrong with building skyscrapers? Are they destroying the existing ones? No, they aren’t. Pudong is an area which was a jungle till 10-15 years ago. They developed this area from scratch and destined it to be the “Commercial District” of Shanghai, the commercial hub in the making. So what’s wrong with it?
Besides, the design of this tower has more sustainability measures than any other equivalents in this region.
I totally love the way the Chinese are rising. Don’t envy someone’s success because you could be it.
Learn more about Shanghai Tower and get updates on the construction process by following Gensler’s blog series on this exciting project. http://www.gensleron.com/cities/tag/shanghai-tower
This elegant building was designed by Marshall Strabala (stray-ba-la) while he was Director of Design at Gensler 2006-2010. Strabala’s 25 years of experience worldwide, with design leadership for Burj Dubai, Nanjing Greenland Zifeng Tower and the designer of Shanghai Tower make him a important design architect of 3 of the 10 tallest buildings in the world. He recently spoke at the Council of Tall Buildings in Seoul. He has opened his own arch firm 2Define Architecture, with offices in Shanghai, Seoul and Chicago. He continues weekly involvement with Shanghai Tower at behest of the client. He now oversees Gensler and Tongji drawing and submissions to assure the client of a sustainable, important built right icon for city of Shanghai.