Pearl River Tower

The Pearl River Tower (Chinese: 珠江大厦) is a clean technology skyscraper at the junction of Jinsui Road/Zhujiang Avenue West, Tianhe District, Guangzhou, China. The tower's architecture and engineering were performed by Skidmore, Owings, and Merrill with Adrian D. Smith and Gordon Gill (now at their own firm) as architects. Ground broke on the tower on the 8th of September 2006 and construction was completed in March 2011. It is intended for office use and will be partially occupied by the China National Tobacco Corporation.
The design of the Pearl River Tower intends to set new standards for skyscrapers: a high-performance structure designed in such harmony with its environment that it extracts energy from the natural and passive forces surrounding the building. Some of the major accomplishments are in the nature of the formal and technological integration of form and function in a holistic approach to engineering and architectural design.
The building is designed with energy conservation in mind, including wind turbines and solar collectors, photovoltaic cells, raised floors ventilation, and radiant heating and cooling ceilings. It will be arguably one of the most environmentally friendly buildings in the world.
Of Pearl River Tower’s accomplishments, many are related to the sustainable design features including:
- The largest radiant-cooled office building in the world
- Most energy efficient super-tall building in the world
- The tower is an example of China’s goal to reduce the intensity of carbon dioxide emissions per unit of GDP in 2020 by 40 to 45 percent as compared to the level of 2005.
Specifications:
- Height of the roof: 309.70 m (1,016 ft)
- Floor count: 71 (5 below ground)
- Floor area: 212,165 m2 (2,283,725 sq ft)
- Site area: 10,635 m2 (114,470 sq ft)
Timeline
- Fall 2005 : Design Competition
- 8 September 2006 : Ground Breaking Ceremony
- November 2006 : Enabling Works begin
- 18 July 2007 : Public bidding for the construction
- January 2008 : Main Package construction begins −26.2 m (−86 ft)
- August 2008 : Building Core construction reaches ground level 0 m (0 ft)
- April 2009 : 15th Level 80.6 m (264 ft)
- November 2009: Glass curtainwall installation begins
- December 2009: Building reaches upper wind turbine level
- 28 March 2010: Topped-out
- March 2011: Completed
Source: Wikipedia.