[khris]

Recently Gensler broke ground on a soaring sustainably 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.â€

Source

 

[Edward Skira]

Some of those buildings look cool but that skyline is horrible. And the street level is even worse. Give me old Shanghai any day.

 

[Urban Shocker]

What a screaming match of visual one-upmanship some of these spectacle-cities are turning themselves into.

 

[ganjavih]

I'm with Ed... this is a cheese-fest.

 

[AlvinofDiaspar]

I really like the tower portion - it managed to look classy and sophisticated, which is a claim most Chinese skyscrapers cannot make.

AoD

 

[CityPlaceN1]

I'm with Ed on this one as well.

 

[rather_draconian]

I don't feel like the Jin Mao, the bottle opener, and this thing complement each other at all.

 

[Urban Shocker]

Context is of no concern to someone merely intent on designing an icon.

 

[Urban Shocker]

Here's more of the same, also from China:

http://www.dezeen.com/2009/02/17/huaxi-city-centre-by-mad-and-others/#more-24954

 

[ganjavih]

What a goofy-looking skyline.

 

[rather_draconian]

Urban Shocker, I actually like a lot of those designs in that link you posted! I'm a fan of MAD.

 

[Conrad Black]

What a goofy-looking skyline.

Awful is a better word for it.

 

[Urban Shocker]

draconian: Based on what they're proposing, if these people really want to "use new technologies and global ideas to reconnect the natural and man-made world" at Huaxi they'd be wiser to leave its "dramatic and beautiful landscape" alone. They can describe this discordant mess as "organic" and "touching the landscape" and following "the fragile rules of nature" all they want, but it'll convince few.

Times will be tough for many of these people as the work dries up. Most places worth visiting have already renovated their cultural buildings, a scattering of B-list cities have climbed aboard the Bilbao bandwagon with varying degrees of success, and the economic meltdown makes so much of this car crash design look sorely dated even in China where the thirst for spectacle appears insatiable.

But, looking on the bright side, Huaxi will survive for a while.

 

[jenny_zhang]

Well, I guess with the tower there it looks like something from a children's game, but come on, it's not that bad. It's just...unique. And the new building is really cool.

Some of the designs Urban Shocker linked to though are pretty silly.

 

[syn]

The skyline aesthetics are debatable, but I actually really like this new tower.

Let's be real, if this was going up in Toronto everyone would be thrilled.