The highest green building of the World

A secret meeting was held to choose the "building of the summer" Which? All the signs indicate that the Shanghai Tower can to be chosen.
(Edición en español)

She left her seat with parsimony and diligence, she had been preparing in secret the past few months for this. Subtly, she revised the faces of the colleagues while was collecting the dossier, she had waited patiently all the time and, already, having exposed the majority of proposals, seemed that this year her proposal could be elected. She had already participated in five meetings, the first as guest of honour and the followings as a contestant of prestige. The idea was simple: each participant should to take data and details of a building under construction or newly built, to determine which of them would be awarded as "The building of the summer".

She introduced the Pendrive and wielded the laser pointer; as first image appeared the logo of her company, one marks more than known in worldwide for their quality and their (good) treatment to the operators, she was proud of several social advances that had managed within the company, "a little of publicity is always good, even here", she thought, as she watched the faces surprised of the persons had not recognized her. When she saw the second picture knew that she had done well her work: already none of those the attendants could separate the logo of her company of the silhouette of the Tower of Shanghai who they were watching, the largest building of double facade of the world.

Shanghai Tower Construction and Development Co., is the promoter of this project, whose design was awarded by a international competition, this is often done, in June of 2008. The architecture firm that won the competition, studied in detail the premises which should have the construction, first and foremost, a building anchored in the time, as it was at its time, the other two that form (together) the trio more next of the planet, the Jin Mao Tower skyscraper and the SWFC (Shanghai-world financial center). They took into the account international environmental standards and the comfort technology.

The Shanghai Tower reaches a chilling height of 632 metres, which it makes it the second tallest building in the world (behind of the Burj Khalifa, Dubai), has 127 plants with five under the basement, intended, mainly to parking. The area is 576.000 meters in total, including 410.000 above ground. Have commercial and cultural spaces, 200,000 square meters for offices, and the building has a luxury Hotel with 80,000 square metres which are distributed in 258 rooms between the floors 84 and 110 what she herself would call a "luxury of height".

She made a break, not because she was tired, was paused intentionally, for than the other negotiator exasperated a little, enough to weaken but not too much, so he do not miss the attention, was accustomed to this type of negotiations and she had marked the times perfectly. "But the best is yet to come, if so far I have given some figures, from here I will give you an architectural analysis", it seemed to her, at that moment, that increased the tension in the room, almost could swear that one of the people seated there was a very popular character, "his name was Rodolfo, not?"

The building becomes twisted on its axis at 120 degrees, with a form that it would not go unnoticed anywhere in the world. The responsible architect of the studio, Gensler, with their best 48 professionals (200 has the company), has been the managers of the design and direction of the work, although that its "Chief Architect", Marshall Strabala, no longer belongs to the company, he has not withdrawn of its professional tasks in this work. The building is subdivided in turn into 9 cylindrical parts, one above of the other, with an interior garden at the base of each one of them.

But the shape exterior aerodynamics is not capricious, it is achieved to reduce the thrust of the wind (which in Shanghai can reach a speed of 53 meters per second, about 190 kilometers per hour) by 28 percent, according to Strabala, this amounts to a saving of 60 million dollars (54 million euros) in the structure, a amount significant, on the other hand the budget is 4.2 billion dollars (3.80 billion euros), so a little of help never it hurts. The form in semi-spiral also serves to collect rainwater, which is intended for heating and air conditioning.

The system of double glass wall using in the construction serves as thermal insulation, this physical separation of the two elements allows that the external temperatures (in Shanghai, the temperatures range between 0 and 40 degrees from winter to summer) softened greatly. The bag of air acts every fifteen plants independently, increasing its effect the asymmetry in plant. The outer layer of glass is attached to the inner structure using steel turnbuckles, these tensors help to hold the wall and, at the same time, convey the force of the wind to the main structure.

The developers rely on that the building could receive between 15,000 and 20,000 people for day between workers, visitors and guests of the hotel. It has 106 lifts, the quicker lift will reach 18 meters per second (64 km / h) until the second tourist viewpoint highest of the planet on the floor 119. The building will also with an open terrace on the floor 121 (for the bravest). It has a geothermal system to take the temperature of the Earth, devices collectors of water for use in landscaping and other secondary uses and 270 turbines below of the parapet to generate additional power, with a capacity of 135 kW of power.

They expect to get, in brief, the certificate LEED Gold and the three stars of the Environmental Committee of Chinese in recognition of sustainable design and construction. The contractor, Shanghai Construction Group started work on November 29, 2008 and boasts of have built the first building in the world with a weight of 850,000 tons over soft ground, also calls the title of tallest green building on the planet for their construction. For anyone person is a building of records.

"I could continue giving you more details, the podium at the foot of the Tower (is also the entrance to the Hotel) has 60,000 square meters of retail, catering, exhibitions, banquets and a long etcetera. I could explain that the lower part of the building can display letters and characters in any language, and that the emblem of the Tower will be displayed in the crown of the building, and that, furthermore, multiple images can be in it...

… I could analyse the mass-damper (structure on the top floor which serves to offset the ups and downs and movements of skyscrapers) that is the heaviest in the world with 1,200 tons. I could say that the building has the highest panoramic restaurant on the floor 120, the highest pool (in 393 metres) on the 84 floor, which has the highest Sky Lobby (in 470 metres) on the floor 101, and it is the first luxury hotel with Chinese style. I could..."

She paused, aware that in the last sentence was played all her argument, one false step could decant the scale, although, in this case, was frankly unlikely. "I could invite you to visit China and that you choose this tower as the building of the summer of this year, 2015", concluded.

The fire of Azerbaijan

A Hotel, a residential building and other of offices make up a wonderful complex that burns the day and the night.

Hi, do you know feels when lost a good business, and you discover that you was near it? Do you know this tragic moment in which you give with who (or what) had removed your great opportunity that cannot be repeated? I, Rodolfo, don't know, and, in fact, isn't one of my priorities to find out how it is, "au contraire" (I would say my cousin), I will continue avoiding that feeling.

But you do not think that the intolerance to the error is what I have, or the excessive predilection for myself, none of this, what happens is that they taught me well to choose the battle before we start. I will give an example related (clear) with my self-requirement from get an exquisite place where to design and build a vigorous building. A few years ago I was enjoying of Eurovision, in the place where, in a few days, will be held the first European games, but I will not speed up the narrative. The slowing is enjoyed, or as recounts Benito Pérez Galdós that the king Fernando VII said to his personal assistant: "Dress me slowly, I have hurry".

The Caspian Sea

In May of the year 2012, I was advising to a very good international investor about the possibilities of a country that has not stopped growing in the last five years, we were in Baku, capital of Azerbaijan. As the coincidences exist, you know it, was celebrated at that time the Eurovision Song Contest in which the Spanish representative, Pastora Soler, had one more than respectable position: the number 10. We was very badly at the beginning, because we could not reside in the Fairmont Hotel of the Flame Towers, all an architectural landmark in the city, since still missing almost a year for its inauguration, in compensation, in 2013, the Hotel Manager gave me the Royal Suite a week (with expenses paid, stuff from my last name).

I'll be honest, I had many problems with the international investor, the best thing that has happened to me in life was discover the complex formed by the three towers where the Hotel is located, and wanted to devote more time to analyze the construction, this clashed with the intention of the employer, of how I resolved the situation I'll talk about another day, the important thing is that I got my goal of course. But we go at the beginning, the developer of the complex was Azinco Development MMC who commissioned the design to the architects HOK team, specifically to Pierre Baillargeon.

In an area of 28,000 square meters the designer developed three towers joined at their base. The three skyscrapers are based on the coat of the city and, therefore, in its history.  The work on the complex began in 2007 and finished in 2012, cost some 320 million euros, and it have become the three tallest skyscrapers of Azerbaijan. Its towers are three large flames, distributed between them as if it will try the three vertices of a triangle, one to the North, one to the South and the last in the West.

The South Tower, the highest with 190 meters of wingspan, is destined to housing with 130 luxury apartments and views over the city of Baku and the Caspian Sea that make extreme sports the Spa and the gym. The North Tower, the Fairmont Hotel, reaches 160 meters in height and is distributed in 36 floorswith 318 rooms and 61 apartments. The hotel entrance has a height of 17 metres and is decorated with a chandelier with crystal drop shape and six metres high (I love it). The West Tower, no less important, is nearly 140 meters tall, is destined to offices with a whopping of 33,000 square metres of flexible space for business offices.

The curvilinear facades of the three buildings are covered in crystals of colours orange and blue, to mimic the colours of the flames. The structure of the building is concrete reinforced, giving rigidity to the set. At the base, the buildings joined by a podium of 78 meters in height, which is distributed in three levels and has various uses for the users of the complex, whose roof is glazed. The complex has been awarded with the international prize MIPIM 2013, the international award in the real estate world.

At the top, with a curious needle peak termination, lies one of the most conflictive areas due to gusts of winds that support in these latitudes. Their last 30 meters are made with a different structure that the rest of the building structural system: steel frames with a form of a watermark that, in addition, creates a spacious place. Dlubal Software GmbH software was used for the calculation of this network. This framework consists of three sides curved that it find on top, the tubes are of 610 mm in diameter and their sections are biaxial curved (in both directions).

The contractor Day Holding Azerbaijan gives us more data from this mega-structure: its final surface is 251,000 square meters, have been used 165,000 cubic metres of concrete and 1,500 tons of steel; the facade occupies an area of 64,000 square metres, have been distributed 611 kilometres of low voltage cables and, most importantly, 1,198 vehicles occupy their parking.

But continues reading, comes the best! The Traxon Technologies company has been responsible for the introducing of more than 10,000 lights led (always led) on the facades. It are placed so that not are distinguished from the outside, an intelligent control allows that it interact forming different pictures, the most common, the flames moving, also can be formed individual animations for each building or giving life to three buildings. The main problem he faced was the variety of sizes in crystals, the different lengths of modules of lighting can reduce to 16 (a success).

But we return to the beginning of the article, where I promised you an example of my prudence in the decision-making. Recently I had an idea for my future construction in the BoyukZira Island, opposite the city of Baku, but the confluence of large architectural formats made me fear that the island was predestined to other use, as almost always I was right.They intend to make a Master Plan called Zira Island, in which give shape to eight of the geographical places the most emblematic of Azerbaijan, the architects responsible are the BIG Danish group and the idea is to build a city of one million square meters with energy independence, using the thermal solar panels, photovoltaic cells, the recycling of waste water and rain water harvesting and a wind farm the island will be completely independent and will have a zero carbon expulsion.

As you may understand, I wasn't going to spoil the design of the architects by my plans. Bye bye.