World’s tallest tower to be built in 7 months
The Burj Khalifa in Dubai has been the world’s tallest building for some time - and it took a similarly lengthy period to build: construction on the emirates’ luxury icon spanned five years.
All photos: Design Boom
But soon the Burj Khalifa will be ranked second-highest, if China’s ambitious project will start work in June as planned. The 220-storey development will stand at 838m when finished - just 10m more than the current record-holder.
Broad Sustainable Construction announced plans to break ground in June - almost one year after their original claims to build the structure in 90 days last summer. They swiftly rescinded that statement, then repeated it once again in November 2012.
Amazingly, Broad Sustainable Construction has form in the fast building stakes: they built a 15-storey skyscraper in Shanghai in a mere 15 days and a 30-storey hotel in 48 hours. Their secret? Pre-fabricated materials.
The assembly of a “system of modules and prefabricated parts” will take place within a “back-breaking timeline”, explains Design Boom. The building will be located in the rapidly developing waterfront area just outside Changsha.
But unlike the company’s previous projects, their new development is a mixed-use residential complex. Approximately 83 per cent of the vertical complex will be exclusively residential with housing for 31,000 people inside. 3 per cent will be reserved for offices. The building will also include a hotel with capacity for 1,000 people and a school set to educate 4,600 kids.
How to build the world’s tallest tower (courtesy of the National Post)
The estimated total cost for the building? Just $628 million. The Burj Khalifa’s cost? $1.5 billion.
All that, plus an environmentally-friendly, sustainable material with reduced CO2 emission and “a network of green roofs” within the world’s tallest building? Even if it takes seven months rather than 90 days, it’s undeniably impressive.
Still not impressed? Here is the developer's promotional video for the tower: