Shanghai World Financial Center
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Shanghai World Financial Center, mixed-use skyscraper in Shanghai, China, that is one of the tallest buildings in the world. The tower is located in the Pudong district of the city, adjacent to the 88-story Jin Mao Tower. Designed by the American architectural firm of Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates of New York City, it has 101 stories and reaches a height of 1,614 feet (492 meters). The building opened in 2008 after a construction period of 11 years. At the time of its completion, it was the second highest building in the world, behind only the Taipei 101 (Taipei Financial Center) building in Taipei, Taiwan. However, it subsequently was surpassed by taller structures, notably the Burj Khalifa building in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, the tallest building in the world. It is the tallest building in China (see Researcher’s Note: Heights of buildings).
The Shanghai World Financial Center resembles a giant square column in which two of its sides have been beveled from opposite corners (starting about one-third of the way up) and gradually taper closer together until they nearly meet and form a narrow rectangle at the top. The building is supported by large diagonally braced corner columns of mixed structural steel and reinforced concrete in the outer wall and a reinforced-concrete inner-core wall, the two structures connected by a series of radiating beams at intervals where horizontal truss bands encircle the exterior. The exterior sheathing is a curtain wall of double-paned mirror glass. A distinctive design element is a large trapezoid-shaped opening near the top of the tower, which acts to reduce the wind load on the building. In addition, two damper units, installed at the 90th-floor level and each with a 150-ton counterweight, reduce the swaying of the tower from lateral wind force. The building is designed to withstand earthquakes and high winds from typhoons (tropical cyclones).
Construction of the building began in 1997. However, because of the Asian financial crisis of the late 1990s, work was suspended after the completion of the foundation, a unique structure consisting of a thick concrete pad and some 2,200 steel pipes driven into the ground to depths of up to some 260 feet (80 meters). Work resumed in 2003, and the structural framework was completed in 2007. Some 70 floors of the tower are devoted to office space, and a hotel occupies 14 floors above the offices. There are event venues, a media center, restaurant and shopping areas on the ground floors, and three observation decks—on the 94th, 97th, and 100th floors.
