After 9 Amazing Facts About The Burj Khalifa, we have decided to move on to the next tallest building in the world, Shanghai Tower. Initially scheduled to be completed and opened in 2014, this tower has been completed, and is just awaiting fire safety certification. Shanghai Tower is located in Shanghai, China and is currently set to open this month, November 2015. It surpassed the now second tallest building in China, Canton Tower in Guangzhou which was completed in 2010. The following are 9 amazing facts about Shanghai Tower:
FACT 1
The tower cost an estimated $2.4 billion. It was funded by shareholders, bank loans, and Shanghai’s municipal government. In comparison, the Burj Khalifa cost an estimated $1.5 billion.
FACT 2
Shanghai Tower is 632 meters tall or 2,073 feet and has 128 stories. It has a total floor area of 380,000 meters squared or 4,090,000 square feet. The next tallest building is the Abraj Al-Bait Clock Tower in Mecca standing at 601 meters or 1,971 feet tall.
FACT 3
Shanghai Tower holds the record for furthest-travelling single elevator at 578.5 meters or 1,898 feet, surpassing the record previously held by the Burj Khalifa. At the time of installation in 2014, the elevators held the record for fastest single-deck (18 meters or 59 feet per second) and double-deck (10 meters or 33 feet per second) elevators. It holds the record as the tallest building in Shanghai as well as all of China.
FACT 4
Construction on Shanghai Tower began November 2008 and was completed September 2015, taking about 7 years to finish. It is planned to be opened November 2015.
FACT 5
The Shanghai Tower is now the world’s second highest hotel. It consists of 258 rooms. The world’s highest hotel is the Ritz-Carlton Hong Kong.
FACT 6
A number of green buy soma synonims online architecture elements were incorporated into the Shanghai Tower. A Gensler spokesman (the American architectural firm that designed the tower) described it as “the greenest super high-rise building on earth at this point in time.” A 120 degree twist as the tower rises was implemented into the design in order to reduce wind loads by 24%. Due to this, the amount of construction materials was 25% less than a conventionally built tower of the same height. Approximately $58 million was saved in material costs. The tower can withstand typhoon winds as well.
FACT 7
Every single day about 16,000 people can be accommodated by Shanghai Tower.
FACT 8
In February 2014, a pair of Russian climbers climbed all the way to the top of the tower. This was not sanctioned, as they broke into the tower in order to do this. The video that they filmed of this excursion currently stands at about 47 million views on YouTube.
FACT 9
Two hundred and seventy wind generators will power the external lights on the building, also adding to environmentally safe design.
Shanghai Tower was set to lose its titles as tallest building in China and second tallest building in the world next year to Ping An Finance Center, however that project had to scrap their plans for a sixty meter antenna because of the possibility of it obstructing flight paths. Shanghai Tower will remain the second tallest building in the world. Future buildings will surpass it, however, such as Kingdom Tower, Qianhai Tower, Wuhan Greenland Center, and so on. Skyscrapers continue to get taller. In 20 years, how tall do you think the tallest building will be? Do you think that it’s safe to continue building taller and taller buildings?
