Shanghai World Financial Center
Template:Short description Template:Distinguish Template:Use dmy dates Template:Use American English Template:Infobox building The Shanghai World Financial Center (SWFC; Template:Zh, Shanghainese: Zånhae Guejieu Cinyon Tsonsin) is a supertall skyscraper located in the Pudong district of Shanghai. It was designed by Kohn Pedersen Fox and developed by the Mori Building Company, with Leslie E. Robertson Associates as its structural engineer and China State Construction Engineering Corp and Shanghai Construction (Group) General Co. as its main contractor. It is a mixed-use skyscraper, consisting of offices, hotels, conference rooms, observation decks, ground-floor shopping malls. Park Hyatt Shanghai is the tower's hotel component, comprising 174 rooms and suites occupying the 79th to the 93rd floors, which at the time of completion was the highest hotel in the world. It is now the third-highest hotel in the world after the Ritz-Carlton, Hong Kong, which occupies floors 102 to 118 of the International Commerce Centre.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
On 14 September 2007, the skyscraper was topped out at Template:Convert,<ref name="ssc010720" /><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> making it the 2nd tallest building in the world<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> on completion (the tallest at the time being Taipei 101), the tallest building in the world by roof height only, and the tallest in China.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> The SWFC opened to the public on 28 August 2008, with its observation deck opening on 30 August. The observation deck offers views from Template:Convert above ground level.<ref name=bbc_open>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
The SWFC has been lauded for its design, and in 2008 it was named by architects as the year's best-completed skyscraper.<ref name=reuters>"Shanghai tower named year's best skyscraper". Reuters. 20 November 2008. Retrieved 5 August 2013.</ref><ref>"Shanghai tower named year's best skyscraper" Template:Webarchive. ABS-CBN News. 21 November 2008. Retrieved 5 August 2013.</ref> In 2013, the SWFC was exceeded in height by the adjacent Shanghai Tower,<ref name=500Metres>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> which is China's tallest structure Template:As of. Together, The Shanghai World Financial Center, The Shanghai Tower and The Jin Mao Tower form the world's first adjacent grouping of three supertall skyscrapers.
HistoryEdit
Designed by American architectural firm Kohn Pedersen Fox, the 100-story tower was originally planned for construction in 1997, but work was temporarily interrupted by the Asian Financial Crisis in the late 1990s, and was later paused to accommodate design changes by the Mori Building Company. The building of the tower was financed by several multinational firms, including Chinese, Japanese, and Hong Kong banks, as well as by the Japanese developer and American and European investors. The American investment bank Morgan Stanley coordinated the tower's financing for Mori Building.
ConstructionEdit
The tower's foundation stone was laid on 27 August 1997. In the late 1990s, the Pierre de Smet Building Corporation suffered a funding shortage caused by the Asian financial crisis of 1997–98, which halted the project after the foundations were completed. On 13 February 2003, the Mori Group increased the building's height to Template:Convert and 101 stories, from the initial plans for a Template:Convert, 94-stories building. The new building used the foundations of the original design, and construction work was resumed on 16 November 2003.<ref name='pdonline'>Template:Cite news</ref>
A fire broke out in the incomplete SWFC on 14 August 2007. The fire was first noticed on the 40th floor, around 16:30 (GMT +8), and soon the smoke was clearly seen outside the building. By 17:45, the fire had been extinguished. The damage was reported to be slight, and nobody was injured in the accident.<ref name='forbes'>Template:Cite news</ref> The cause of the fire remains unknown, but according to some sources the preliminary investigation suggested workers' electric weldings caused the fire.<ref name='windowofchina'>Template:Cite news</ref>
The building reached its full height of Template:Convert on 14 September 2007 after the installation of the final steel girder.<ref name='guardian'>Template:Cite news (The video has been removed due to expiry of the copyright).</ref> The final cladding panels were installed in mid-June 2008, and elevator installation was finished in mid-July. The Shanghai World Financial Center was declared complete on 17 July 2008, and was officially opened on 28 August.<ref name=bbc_open /> On 30 August 2008, the tower's observation floors were opened to the public.
ArchitectureEdit
The most distinctive feature of the SWFC's design is the trapezoid aperture at the peak. The original design specified a circular aperture, Template:Convert in diameter, to reduce the stresses of wind pressure<ref name='nytimes'>Template:Cite news</ref> and to reference the Chinese mythological depiction of the sky as a circle.<ref name='nytimes' /> It also resembled a Chinese moon gate due to its circular form in Chinese architecture. However, this initial design began facing protests from some Chinese, including the mayor of Shanghai, Chen Liangyu, who considered it too similar to the rising sun design of the Japanese flag. Pedersen then suggested that a bridge be placed at the bottom of the aperture to make it less circular.<ref name='pbs'>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> On 18 October 2005, KPF submitted an alternative design to Mori Building and a trapezoidal hole replaced the circle at the top of the tower, which in addition to changing the controversial design, would also be cheaper and easier to implement, according to the architects.<ref name='pbs'/><ref>Template:Usurped. Emporis.com. Retrieved 29 November 2012.</ref> Foreigners and Chinese alike informally refer to the building as "the bottle opener".<ref>"The World's Largest Bottle Opener: Beautiful". Shanghai Daily (subscription required). Retrieved 29 November 2012.</ref> Metal replicas of the building that function as actual bottle openers are sold in the tower's gift shop.
The tower features three separate observation decks which constitute the floors above and below the aperture opening. The height of the lowest observation deck, located on the 94th floor, is Template:Convert; the second, on the 97th floor, is at a height of Template:Convert; and the highest, on the 100th floor, is Template:Convert high.
The skyscraper's roof height is set at Template:Convert, and was at one point the highest roof in the world. Before construction on the roof was completed, the SWFC's total height was scheduled to be Template:Convert so that it would exceed the height of the Taipei 101, but a height limit was imposed, allowing the roof to reach a maximum height of 492 metres. Architect William Pedersen and developer Minoru Mori resisted suggestions to add a spire that would surpass that of Taipei 101 and perhaps One World Trade Center, calling the SWFC a "broad-shouldered building". The SWFC boasts a gross floor area of more than Template:Convert, 31 elevators, and 33 escalators.
Structural efficiencyEdit
The tower's trapezoid aperture is made up of structural steel and reinforced concrete. A large number of forces, such as wind loads, the people in the building and heavy equipment housed in the building, act on the SWFC's structure. These compressive and bending forces are carried down to the ground by the diagonal-braced frame (with added outrigger trusses). The design employs an effective use of material, because it decreases the thickness of the outer core shear walls and the weight of the structural steel in the perimeter.
TenantsEdit
Shanghai World Financial Center hosts the office building for many international financial companies, including those involved in banking, insurance, securities and fund management, such as Ernst & Young, Morgan Stanley, BNP Paribas, Commerzbank, Bank of Yokohama, Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation and Korea Development Bank.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> Google's Shanghai branch is located on the 60th-61st floors.<ref>"Google locations." Google. Retrieved 25 May 2016. "Google Shanghai 60F, Shanghai World Financial Center 100 Century Avenue, Pudong New Area Shanghai 200120, China"</ref>
TransportEdit
- Shanghai Metro: Line 2 at Lujiazui Station is a 10-minute walk to the center.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation
|CitationClass=web }}</ref>
AwardsEdit
Shanghai World Financial Center was named by architects as the best skyscraper completed in 2008, receiving both the Best Tall Building Overall and Asia & Australasia awards from the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat (CTBUH).<ref name=reuters/><ref name=CTBUHAwards>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> CTBUH's Carol Willis, head of New York's Skyscraper Museum, stated: "The simplicity of its form as well as its size dramatizes the idea of the skyscraper."<ref name=reuters/> Architect Tim Johnson noted its innovative structural design: "Steel trusses guard against the forces of wind and earthquake and made the building lighter, made it use less steel, and contributed to its sustainability."<ref name=reuters/> Johnson described the SWFC's structure as "nothing short of genius."<ref name=CTBUHAwards/>
GalleryEdit
- Shanghaiviewpic1.jpg
Shanghai World Financial Center, visible behind the Oriental Pearl Tower.
- Observation deck of the Shanghai World Financial Center.jpg
Inside the tower's observation deck.
- 0352 20090626 Shanghai.jpg
Shanghai World Financial Center (left) and the Jin Mao Tower.
- Shanghai World Financial Center + Jin Mao Tower.jpg
The Shanghai World Financial Center and Jin Mao Tower adjacent to each other.
- Night shot of the Shanghai World Financial Centre.jpg
At night.
- Shanghai world financial centre.JPG
Next to the Jin Mao Tower.
- CWC 9636.jpg
Beside the Shanghai Tower at night.
- Shanghai World Financial Center 200802.jpg
Under construction.
- Shanghai world financial center.jpg
Under construction.
- SWFC May 2007.jpg
Under construction.
- Shanghai scycrapers.jpg
Beside Jin Mao Tower.
- Shanghai World Financial Center during the night.JPG
Shanghai World Financial Center pictured at night.
- Shanghai World Financial Center 200802-2.jpg
The aperture under construction at the top of the building.
- SWFC mural.JPG
Stucco mural depicting the original design.
- Three Bigs Far.jpg
The SWFC, Jin Mao Tower and incomplete Shanghai Tower (far right) in August 2012.
- Shanghai Lujiazui Building.jpg
The SWFC, Jin Mao Tower, and the Shanghai Tower near completion in January 2014.
- View of Jin Mao from SWFC.jpg
View of Jin Mao Tower from the SWFC observation deck.
- Shanghai World Financial Center (Top).jpg
Top of the building.
- Shanghai World Financial Tower seen from Shanghai Tower.jpg
Shanghai World Financial Tower seen from Shanghai Tower, 2016.
- Shanghai World Financial Center (March 9th 2024).jpg
Shanghai World Financial Center from Lujiazui Central Green Space, March 2024.
See alsoEdit
Similar towersEdit
- Kingdom Centre, building in Saudi Arabia
ReferencesEdit
External linksEdit
- Shanghai WFC official websiteTemplate:In lang
- Shanghai World Financial Center observatoryTemplate:In lang
- Kohn Pedersen Fox Shanghai WFC project page Template:Webarchive
- Mori Building Co. Shanghai WFC project page
- Shanghai WFC on CTBUH's Skyscraper Center database
- The Shanghai WFC: a case study on Constructalia Template:Webarchive
- Template:Usurped
- Window cleaners at work on the Shanghai WFC (video from the observation deck)
- Template:Osmway
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