China is well known for its mind-bogglingly fast-paced construction, but its latest claim is truly one for the record books.
Sky City, an 838-meter (2,750-ft) building to be built by Chinese construction company Broad Sustainable Building (BSB), of Broad Group, will not just be the tallest skyscraper on the planet, won’t just be “earthquake-proof,” won’t just implement a sustainable design approach – it will go up in only 90 days.
Skeptical? BSB isn’t. They’ve used their building technique (which involves pre-fabricating and assembling up to 95% of the materials in modular form before construction even begins) to assemble a 15-story building in 6 days and a 30-story hotel in 360 hours, CNN reports. As for safety concerns, BSB has built a 30-story prototype that withstood a simulated magnitude 9 earthquake — whether the 220-story Sky City will be as secure remains to be seen, but BSB certainly seems confident.
More fast facts and images, after the break…
Fast Facts
- According to Gizmag: “If the target is met, the 838-meter (2,750-ft) “Sky City One” will take only a twentieth of the time that the Burj Khalifa, the world’s current tallest building, took to construct, and will stand 10 meters (33 feet) taller still upon completion.”
- Sky City One advertises itself as an earthquake-resistant, carless city which will accommodate approximately 100,000 people and provide retail and leisure facilities.
- Sky City One has been designed with 15-cm (6-inch) thick exterior walls and a quadruple glazing in order to improve its insulation, allowing it to consume a fifth of the energy of a conventional building its size.
- The Sky City One will contain 1,000,000 sq m (10,800,000 sq ft) of usable floor space, have 220 floors, and 104 separate elevators.
- According to CNN, the Sky City One is projected to cost US$628 million. (Compare that to the $1.5 billion Burj Khalifa cost).
- Work should commence in November 2012 through to the following January, but final approval from Chinese authorities is yet to be granted.
