Shanghai Tower

Shanghai Tower / Gensler / China 

• Architects:   Gensler
• Location:   100 Shi Ji Da Dao, LuJiaZui, Pudong Xinqu, Shanghai Shi, China, 200120
• Project Year:   2015
• Client:   Shanghai Tower Construction & Development Co., Ltd
• Owner:   Shanghai Tower Construction & Development Co., Ltd
• Architect of Record: Architectural Design & Research Institute of Tongji University (Group) Co., Ltd
• Interior Designer:   Gensler (Retail, Public Space)
• Engineers (Structural, Civil, Mechanical, Etc):  Structural:  Thornton Tomasetti; MEP:  Cosentini; Wind Tunnel Testing:  Rowan Williams Davies & Irwin (RWDI)
• Vertical Transportation:   Edgett Williams Consulting Group, Inc. (EWCG)
• Fire Protection & Life Safety:   RJA Fire Protection Technology Consulting (RJA)
• Building Facade:   Aurecon Engineer Consulting (Shanghai) Co., Ltd.  (Aurecon)
• Landscape:   SWA
• Lighting:   PHA / Tower; BPI/ Podium, Crown and Interior
• Acoustical:   SM&W
• Parking:   Walker Parking Consultants
• General Contractor:   Shanghai Construction Group (SCG)
• Steel Structure Construction: Shanghai Mechanized Construction Corporation Ltd., (SMCC)
• Curtain Wall Contractor:   Yuanda (Exterior curtain wall); Jiangho (Interior curtain wall); Lingyan (Podium curtain wall)
• Structural System:   Super Column-Concrete Core-Outrigger
• Total Above Grade:   380,000 m2
• Total Below Grade:   196,000 m2
• Total Project Cost:   $2.2 Billion
• Total Construction Cost:   $1.54 Billion

Vertical Urbanism. Shanghai Tower is designed to embrace and stimulate the life of the city. Yet, instead of parks spread horizontally across the city, the tower provides gathering spaces stacked vertically. These are the innovative sky gardens that set the building apart from any high rise ever built. By emphasizing public space and locating shops, restaurants and urban amenities at the atrium levels, Shanghai Tower provides a new experience for living and working in super tall towers.

Why this shape? Gensler's design team anticipated that three key strategies-the tower's asymmetrical form, its tapering profile and its rounded corners-would allow the building to withstand the typhoon-forces winds that are common in Shanghai.

Using wind tunnel tests conducted in a Canadian Lab, Gensler and structural engineer Thornton Tomasetti refined the tower's form, which reduced building wind loads by 24 percent. The result is a lighter structure that saved $58 million in costly materials.

The Outer Skin, Constructing a complex building shape that had never before been conceived required the most innovative tools. Designed with 20,000+ curtain wall panels-including more than 7,000 unique shapes-the facade would have been challenging to envision using traditional computer-aided design tools. With parametric software, however, Gensler was able to create a system that balances performance, constructability, maintenance and design. Precise tolerances were achieved by placing lasers on the site to take measurements.