Construction of 'world's tallest building' begins in China

[-:Undertaker:-]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/china/10193630/Construction-of-worlds-tallest-building-begins-in-China.html

Construction of 'world's tallest building' begins in China

A Chinese construction company has begun building what it hopes will become the tallest building on earth.


http://i.telegraph.co.uk/multimedia/archive/02623/Untitled-1_2623483b.jpg
Artist impressions: The developer behind the project said the 208-storey skyscraper would be completed by April.


The Sky City tower is being built on the rural outskirts Changsha, a city in China's Hunan province, and comes with an equally stratospheric price tag of around 5.25 billion yuan (£560 million).

At a ceremony on Saturday, Zhang Yue, chairman of Broad Group – the developer behind the project – said the 208-storey skyscraper would be completed by April.

At 2739ft it would overtake Dubai's 2716.5ft Burj Khalifa as the world's tallest building.

China is no stranger to super-tall buildings. Four of the world's nine highest skyscrapers are currently located in mainland China while another, the 1,588ft International Commerce Centre, is in Hong Kong.

Next year, Shanghai is expected to rob Taipei of the honour of being home to the "tallest building in Asia" when the 2073ft Shanghai Tower is completed.

Still, plans for Changsha's Sky City are impressive even by Chinese standards.

The finished product will contain a massive 1.05 million square metres of space, with 202 levels above the surface and six underground.

Into that space, the developers will pack apartments, schools, shopping malls, theatres, cinemas, over 90 lifts and even a hospital. Sky City is also expected to boast a giant "vertical farm" that can provide food for the building's 30,000-plus residents.

"People don't want to have to get on trains or drive a car to get to work," Mr Zhang told a conference in southwest China last month, according to the website of Construction Week.

"Sky City will take some 2,000 cars off the road simply because its residents can find most of what they need right where they live."

Sky City has suffered repeated delays despite government promises to "unswervingly" support Mr Zhang's mega-project.

It was originally scheduled for completion in March 2013 but the ground was only broken on Saturday.

Last month, Hong Kong's South China Morning Post poked fun at the project's failure to take off – noting that the building site was still nothing but "a verdant expanse playing host to the cattle of local villagers."

WORLD'S TALLEST SKYSCRAPERS

1. Burj Khalifa, Dubai – 2716.5ft

2. Taipei 101, Taiwan -1667ft

3. Shanghai World Financial Center, China – 1614ft

4. International Commerce Centre, Hong Kong – 1588ft

5. Petronas Tower 1, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia – 1483ft

6. Zifeng Tower, Nanjing, China – 1476ft

7. Willis Tower, Chicago – 1451ft

8. Kingkey 100, Shenzhen, China – 1449ft

9. Guangzhou International Finance Center, China -1439ft

(source: Forbes)

The bigger picture looks like something out of the former Soviet Union, very much in the style of the famous 'Seven Sisters' - and just as ugly assuming the picture is an accurate portrayal. Still, the good news is that if it does turn out to be hideous (as most modern buildings are) then the smog in China will at least block it out of the skyline - something that can't be said for the 'Shard' in London.

But there you have it. I have to say though that one building and super tall skyscraper that has impressed me has been the Royal Mecca Clock Tower in Saudi Arabia - rather nice as it has the large clock face and incorporates local Arabic design into the building rather than it just being another bland skyscraper that you could find in any old city around the world. Here's the clock tower I am referring to btw -


http://www.menainfra.com/media/media-news/infographics/abrajalbait.png

Thoughts?

[karter]

will be completed by april? wth

[Zak]

Wow. I really didn't think anyone would beat the Burj Khalifa as the tallest building in the world for alonnnggg time. How wrong I was! :(

My bet is Dubai will try and go alot higher if the Chinese build the tallest building in the world. It's liek a race to the moon with these things now :P

[lemons]

will be completed by april? wth

the chinese are capable of anything

[Chippiewill]

will be completed by april? wth

Comes with lack of proper regulation.

[Ardemax]

will be completed by april? wth

They built the largest (by surface area, I think) building ever in a year. I believe it is now an empty shopping mall.

[Hannah]

What I can never understand is why they spend so much money on trying to beat other countries in things other than making their country better and improving the lifestyles of their community.

[dbgtz]

What's wrong with the Shard...

Either way it'll end up being another empty building, no doubt.

[Chippiewill]

What's wrong with the Shard...
Dan is a troll and therefore enjoys holding controversial opinions.

[GommeInc]

Meh, just a big building to compensate for something else. These tall buildings are only there to symbolise power, rather than have a specific use. If anything, most of the building houses the mechanics to keep it from tumbling down when there's an earthquake or a slight breeze - Taipei 101 is one example of a building which houses a huge pendulum which takes up about 1/3 of it.

Architecturally, they're fascinating and amazing, but other than that they're impractical and, knowing China, won't be used and will be empty for a long, long time.


Dan is a troll and therefore enjoys holding controversial opinions.
That doesn't make him a troll. The Shard is a bit of a controversial building, so he has a point. It is quite a bland building that does stick out like a sore thumb. Personally I do not mind it, but it's questionable as to whether or not the building was needed :/

[FlyingJesus]

"Into that space, the developers will pack apartments, schools, shopping malls, theatres, cinemas, over 90 lifts and even a hospital. Sky City is also expected to boast a giant "vertical farm" that can provide food for the building's 30,000-plus residents."

If that's true then it could either be a fantastic new style of metropolitan living or (as is sadly more likely) a glorified city-sized workhouse

[Ardemax]

"Into that space, the developers will pack apartments, schools, shopping malls, theatres, cinemas, over 90 lifts and even a hospital. Sky City is also expected to boast a giant "vertical farm" that can provide food for the building's 30,000-plus residents."

If that's true then it could either be a fantastic new style of metropolitan living or (as is sadly more likely) a glorified city-sized workhouse

What the Chinese government is really thinking is that there will be a lot of space for making iPads.

[-:Undertaker:-]

What's wrong with the Shard...

Today I visited Speke Hall and was amazed by the detail, character and vision that was put into both the building itself and it's content. Beautiful pattern ceilings, beams, fireplaces - everything from Tudor fixtures to Victorian Gothic bedsets - a building that took somebody a great deal of vision and care to think about and plan over time. The same applies to Westminster Palace which is probably my favourite Gothic building of all time - so detailed and beautiful.

The Shard? what exactly is nice about it? it's simply plain glass and steel like every other building that can be found around the world. The only 'imagination' that went into it was deciding what shape it would be - a job any of us could undertake. But you know, my point is made on modern buildings by this very simple fact - ever noticed how modern buildings often have photographs of them taken at night? that's because they are hideously ugly and plain looking by day and thus their only selling feature is that they have pretty lights in them lit up at night time. That's it.

Look at pictures of 'the Shard' in daytime or the usual dull British weather and you'll see what I mean.

[karter]

BEIJING: Work on a Chinese skyscraper aiming to be the world's tallest building has been ordered to stop just days after breaking ground, local media reported on Thursday.
"Relevant authorities" had ordered a halt to work on the Sky City tower in Changsha, in the central province of Hunan, "because it did not complete the required procedures for seeking approval to start construction", the Xiaoxiang Morning Post newspaper said.


http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/images/pixel.gif
At 838 metres (2,749 feet), the tower would surpass the world's current tallest skyscraper, the Burj Khalifa in Dubai, by 10 metres.
Ground was broken on the project at the weekend, the company behind it, Broad Group, said earlier this week, adding that construction would take just four months once the foundations were laid.
The construction schedule has added to concerns over safety, with worries over whether the land surrounding the site could support the structure's tremendous weight.
Certain approvals were needed to assess the project's safety and environmental impact, the Xiaoxiang Morning Post said, citing unnamed authorities.
But a Broad Group spokeswoman said it had all the required permits.
The company — whose founder Zhang Yue made a fortune from air conditioners — attracted global attention last year for building a 30-storey tower in just 15 days, using prefabricated units stacked on top of one another.
It had planned to use the same technique to assemble Sky City by the end of last year, but construction work was delayed multiple times amid concerns that the plans were overambitious.
The People's Daily, the official paper of China's ruling Communist Party, has criticised the project, calling it "blind worship for ultrahigh skyscrapers" on Sina Weibo, a Chinese Twitter-like service.



well.

[lucaskf390]

Fantastic... Records were made to be broke... Amazing engeneering.

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