YIBADA

Soon-to-open Shanghai Tower Has World's Fastest Elevators

| Apr 25, 2016 09:17 PM EDT

The file photo shows the Shanghai Tower, China's tallest skyscraper, in Lujiazui, the financial and trade zone in Shanghai.

After being constructed for more than seven years, the Shanghai Tower is set to break records in China and the rest of the world when it opens officially.

The megatall skyscraper, built by San Francisco, California-based Gensler, boasts elevators that can "shoot 119 floors in under a minute," told the South China Morning Post.

Located in Pudong, Shanghai, the 2,073-foot building is China's tallest skyscraper. It is also the world's second next to the Burj Khalifa in Dubai.

At present, there are three lifts that visitors can use to explore some parts of the building. They travel at 18 meters per second, which means visitors can reach the 119th floor in just 55 seconds.

The record surpasses the Taipei 101 building, which has the fastest elevators that travel at 16.83 meters per second.

Additionally, the Shanghai Tower will "generate 1.2 gigawatt-hours of power from 270 wind turbines mounted about 580 metres above ground," said the SCMP.

The building's floor plan includes a hotel, a sky lobby, retail shops and parking spaces. There will also be offices on the 35th to 57th and 61st to 80th floors.

According to the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat, the completion of the skyscraper has pushed the Willis Tower in Chicago out of the world's 10 tallest buildings list.

The CTBUH also said that the building represents a new type of skyscrapers in China's financial hub.

"The new tower rises high above the skyline, its curved facade and spiralling form symbolizing the dynamic emergence of modern China," CTBUH mentioned in an article.

"[I]ts twisting form goes beyond just creating a unique appearance," CTBUH added. "Wind tunnel tests confirm a 24 percent savings in structural wind loading when compared to a rectangular building of the same height. The tower's program is unique for being organized into nine vertical zones."

Related News

Most Popular

EDITOR'S PICK