Cities in the sky

Sprouting from the heart of Shanghai’s Lujiazui Finance and Trade Zone, this super-tall, 632-meter tower will be the highest building in China upon completion. Designed by the American architecture firm Gensler, Shanghai Tower will rise above the adjacent Jin Mao Tower and Shanghai World Financial Center, making it the most prominent icon on the city’s skyline.

The tower is like a collection of nine buildings, stacked one on top of the other, wrapped by an inner facade and surrounded by a twisting outer facade. With the highest observation deck in the world and nine atrium garden areas between each building level, its 121 stories will house Grade A office space, retail stores, a conference center, a luxury hotel and cultural venues.

Shanghai Tower has already been awarded a gold pre-registration certificate by the US Green Building Council and is aiming for a high-level building certification from the China Green Building Committee.

 

Upon completion in August 2011, the gleaming Kingkey 100 will reach 441.8 m in height. The Shenzhen building – designed by UK-based TFP Farrells – will offer more than 210,000 square meters of accommodation, a retail floor with direct metro access, over 70 floors of prime office space, as well as a 28-floor, five-star St Regis hotel. The building’s crowning sky garden, housed on the top three floors, will feature a variety of fine dining options.

The slender glass exterior of the building simulates a waterfall, with the water parting at the bottom to make way for a grand atrium and entrance. A symbol of the southern finance center’s booming prosperity, Kingkey 100 is also built with special green features. The outer cladding is a sophisticated environmental skin which allows the tower to maintain an optimum interior environment and minimize potential solar heat gain.

 

This stone and glass tower will rise 648 m from its base in Shenzhen’s Futian district, making it the tallest building in the city. The four principle facades of the tower, sheathed in chevron-shaped stone verticals, will appear to be stitched together at its four corners with eight-story diagonal braces.

The tower’s interior, defined by its large central atrium, will provide an idyllic sun-lit space for meetings, shopping and dining. The upper floors will house over 100 floors of Grade A office space, as well as conference and business facilities. The tower’s designers at Kohn Pederson Fox say the Ping An IFC will become the physical and iconic center of Shenzhen’s burgeoning central business district.

 

Also designed by Kohn Pederson Fox, the 530 m Chow Tai Fook Centre will overlook the Pearl River in Guangzhou. The skyscraper’s design features lush sky terraces and dramatic skylights, as well as chiseled setbacks that blend with the various heights of nearby towers.

The skyscraper is wrapped in glazed terracotta pilasters, which are designed to catch light in an infinite number of ways. While the design feature will draw attention to the tower from across the city, it will also provide a beautiful frame from the inside for views of Guangzhou.

As one of the tallest buildings in the Zhujiang New City central business district, the mixed-use tower will offer direct ground level access to each of its functions: residences, a hotel, Grade-A office space and retail areas. When completed in 2016, the Chow Tai Fook Centre will form an urban trinity with its neighboring icons, the Guangzhou International Finance Center and TV Tower.

 

Developed by Hang Lung Properties, the twin tower complex will be located in the heart of Shenyang – one of China’s fastest-developing cities. The towers, each reaching above 350 m, will be capped with lantern-like rectangles that sparkle during the day and appear as floating beacons at night. The sloping edges and sides of the towers have been designed to mimic the river after which Shenyang takes its name. The buildings taper in harmony, creating a sense of space between them.

The twin towers – set for completion in 2013 – will be the tallest office buildings in northeast China. In addition, to complement the development, the southeastern portion of the site near Shenyang’s City Plaza is being reserved for two serviced apartment/office buildings and retail stores. The area linking the four towers is intended to become a public space in downtown Shenyang.