Chinese Skyscraper Under Construction to Add A New Floor Every Four Days

Construction is underway on the “Ping An International Finance Center” skyscraper in Shenzhen, China. Once completed, Ping An Insurance’s new headquarters will be the 3^rd tallest building in the world and the tallest in China. Architectural firm Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates (KPF) designed the 660-meter tall skyscraper and Thornton Tomasetti provided structural engineering services for the project. The skyscraper will cost $680 million.

The 115-story building will be completed in 2016 thanks to the accelerated construction schedule. Construction workers will add a new floor to the building every 4 days.  For comparison, the Burj Khalifa and One World Trade Center took 7-8 days to add a new floor. KPF has mentioned in the past that their designers focused on the “embodied energy” and “embodied carbon” of the building when they we creating ways to add a new floor in four days. These two terms relate to the amount of energy input into various construction activities during the project.

According to KPF, “With over 100 office floors and a large podium containing retail and conference program, PAFC will become the physical and iconic center of Shenzhen’s burgeoning central business district.” The tower’s façade will be a mixture of stone and glass. The podium will feature a five-story atrium that will include retail and restaurants. The skyscraper has been LEED Gold pre-certified and will contain 389,000 square meters of interior space.

While Ping An International Finance Center will hold the title of China’s tallest building when completed, its reign may be short-lived as another building called “Sky City” is also being designed at the moment. If completed, Sky City will become the tallest building in the world, edging out the Birj Khalifa by 10 meters. One company who bid to build the project believes they can construct the skyscraper in 210 days (120 days of prefabrication and 90 days of on-site work).