DailyDirt: Really Tall Buildings in China

Bleeding Edge

from the urls-we-dig-up dept

Although China has been historically known for building lengthy walls that last for centuries, the country is now constructing skyscrapers at an incredible pace. It might seem logical that a country with a huge population would need to start building vertically, instead of horizontally, but these huge buildings have some unimpressive occupancy rates so far. Here are just a few interesting links on big buildings in mainland China.

• A 74-story building in China isn’t finished yet, but the locals are already complaining that the huge archway looks unflatteringly like a pair of giant pants. The British-designed skyscraper was supposed to be the largest gate-shaped structure — representing a “Gate to the East”, but Chinese bloggers have nicknamed the building “Giant Underpants” instead of “Arc de Triomphe of the East”. [url]
• Buildings more than 152 meters tall can be considered skyscrapers, and four of the ten tallest buildings are located in China. There are now hundreds of skyscrapers in China, outnumbering those in the US, but there are concerns about how sustainable these towers will be with low occupancy rates and questionable safety and building management. [url]
• The Sky City project is expected to be complete in January 2013, taking the title for the world’s tallest building away from the Burj Khalifa in Dubai. The more impressive feat, however, is that this building will be fully constructed in just a few months. [url]

If you’d like to read more awesome and interesting stuff, check out this unrelated (but not entirely random!) Techdirt post.

Filed Under: buildings, burj khalifa, china, sky city, skyscrapers