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The future is up: The next ‘world’s-tallest-building’

Preston Phro May 24, 2013
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Burj Khalifa is a tower in Dubai that stands an awe-inspiring 829.8 meters (2,722 feet) tall. With that height, it is currently the world’s tallest building, as well as being Tom Cruise’s favorite thing to climb.

But all that might change in just six months, if everything goes according to plan for one Chinese company. Well, minus the Tom Cruise part.

Victim of overly-direct translation Broad Group has announced that construction on a tower measuring 838 meters (2,749 feet) tall will start in June in Hunan Province, China. Which makes it barely ten meters taller than Burj Khalife. Maybe it’s time for someone in Dubai to invest in stilts…

Reflecting their aspirational goals for the building, the company has dubbed the structure “Sky City,” and it will capable of housing 30,000 people according to Epoch Times. So, I’m not sure what to make of this promotional poster’s claim of “a car-free city for 100,000 people.” Maybe they’re counting office space…

▼”If you build it, they will come!”

When the company initially unveiled their plans in 2011, the government rejected them, but that issue seems to have been worked out.

The company is known for their fast and cheap construction process—mainly bringing completed parts to the construction site for placement. This was how the company was able to build a six-story building in a scant 24 hours. Broad Group is actually internationally famous for their “curtain wall” buildings, buildings in which the outer walls are not part of the main structure.

▼Mode Gakuen’s Cocoon Tower in Tokyo.
They’re still waiting for the giant butterfly to emerge.

Sky City, in addition to being the tallest tower in the world and housing a literal city of people, will have 92 elevators as well as a gym, hospital, movie theater, grocery store, school, hotel, organic farming, and other amenities for daily life. The building is budgeted at four billion yuan (about US$652M) and will be able to withstand a magnitude-9 earthquake. The walls will also be able to cope with fires for up to three hours, according to the PR video. Even so, we hope there will be considerable testing done before anyone moves into the top floors.

Broad Group has stated that the purpose of this building is to develop a way of dealing with a rapidly increasing population. By building up instead of out, significant land space can be saved, and, since everything is self-contained, people won’t need parking or cars since they can just hop on an elevator, saving on commute time and reducing their carbon footprint, which can only be a good thing.

The company expects construction to be finished by the end of the year.

▼The Airrail Center in Frankfurt, Germany
A (possibly, but probably not) seaworthy building!

While I have to applaud the forward thinking approach taken with this building, I can’t help feeling a slight twinge of “No thanks!” I’m just not too sure I’d want to live, work, exercise, shop, and catch a movie all in one building. Seems too much like the setup for a sci-fi horror film with techno-mutant-zombies and space-faring tentacle monsters.

Source: Epoch Times
Images: Broad Group (Yuanda China), Wikipedia