The new, taller structure would not only have to be made lighter, but would need to resist higher wind loads, which increase exponentially with height. Reinforcing the existing piles to accommodate these changes would have been possible but costly. When revived in 1999 the height and base dimensions were both increased from the original design. The project was put on hold in 1995 after the completion of the foundations. The purity of the tower’s design belies the inherent complexity of the various building systems within, and is readily adaptable to the changing programmatic requirements that often arise during the long timeline of such a large project, as well as to the changing needs of building users. Optimizing form and function was paramount to the design, integrating the structure, mechanical systems, and exterior envelope in a modular system that repeats every 13 floors to facilitate the fabrication and installation of components, and, in turn, reduce construction time, material waste, and structural inefficiencies. To further connect the activities of the building to the city, the retail volume is oriented toward a public park planned for an adjacent site. The project activates the ground plane through function-specific entrance volumes (e.g., hotel, office and retail) that extend from its stone-clad base. Its boldest feature, the 164-foot-wide portal carved through its upper levels relieves the enormous wind pressures on the building. Shaped by the intersection of two sweeping arcs and a square prism-shapes representing ancient Chinese symbols of heaven and earth, respectively-the tower’s tapering form supports programmatic efficiencies, from large floor plates at its base for offices to rectilinear floors near the top for hotel rooms. Above the hotel, at the 94th to 100th floors, is a visitors’ square and observatory. Located in Shanghai’s Pudong District, the mixed-used Shanghai World Financial Center is a vertical city, containing 62 office floors, conference facilities, urban retail and dining spaces, and a 174-room five-star Park Hyatt Hotel at the top-the world’s highest hotel from the 79th to 93rd floors. The Shanghai World Financial Center is a symbol of commerce and culture that speaks to the city’s emergence as a global capital. Within a composite building’s primary structural elements. Where known, the CTBUH database breaks out the materials used Examples include buildings which utilize: steel columns with a floor system of reinforcedĬoncrete beams a steel frame system with a concrete core concrete-encased steel columns Ĭoncrete-filled steel tubes etc.

steel, concrete, timber) are used together in the main structuralĮlements. ForĮxample, a Steel Over Concrete indicates an all-steel structural system located on top of anĪll-concrete structural system, with the opposite true of Concrete Over Steel.Ī combination of materials (e.g. all-steel, all-concrete, all-timber), one on top of the other. Or concrete slab on top of timber beams is still considered an “all-timber” structure as theĬoncrete elements are not acting as the primary structure. Note that a building of timber construction with a floor system of concrete planks An all-timber structure may include the use of localized non-timber connections between Reinforced concrete which has been precast as individual components and assembled togetherįrom timber. Note that a building of steel construction with a floor system of concrete planks orĬoncrete slab on top of steel beams is still considered an “all-steel” structure as the concreteĮlements are not acting as the primary structure.įrom concrete which has been cast in place and utilizes steel reinforcement bars and/or steel Both the main vertical/lateral structural elements and the floor spanning systems are constructedįrom steel.

China skyscraper lifetiem