MCLC: China to build tallest building in 90 days

[Denton, Kirk]

MCLC LIST
From: kirk (denton.2 at osu.edu)
Subject: China to build tallest building in 90 days
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Source: Gizmodo (11/20/12):
http://gizmodo.com/5962070/china-will-build-the-tallest-building-in-the-wor
ld-in-just-90-days

China Will Build the Tallest Building In the World in Just 90 Days
(Updated) Jesus Diaz

According to its engineers, this will be the tallest skyscraper in the
world by the end of March of 2013. Its name is Sky City, and its 2,749
feet (838 meters) distributed in 220 floors will grow in just 90 days in
Changsha city, by the Xiangjiang river. Ninety days!

It's not a joke. According to the construction company, the skyscraper
will be built in just 90 days at the unbelievable rate of five floors per
day.

It's hard to believe, but they claim the building has been designed by
some of the engineers who previously worked at the Burj Khalifa. It is
also the same firm that built a full 30-story hotel in 15 days—which yes,
is still standing and in perfect working condition.

Foundation work is beginning at the end of the month, once the Chinese
authorities give the final go ahead to the project.
Pre-fab magicThey will be able to achieve this impossibly fast
construction rate by using a prefabricated modular technology developed by
Broad Sustainable Building, a company that has built 20 tall structures in
China so far, including the that 30-story hotel.

Since they built that hotel, the company has been perfecting their
technology, which they are now claiming will turn their project into the
world's tallest skyscraper in just three months. That's a whooping five
floors per day, which seems just absurd. According to Construction Week
Online 
<http://www.constructionweekonline.com/article-19593-broad-sticks-to-90-day
-worlds-tallest-target/#.UKtDjaU7RJM>, the company is very serious about
it. The senior VP of the Broad Group, Juliet Jiang, has publicly said that
they "will go on as planned with the completion of five storeys a day."

Record numbersUnlike the Burj Khalifa, the tower will be mostly habitable.
Its final height will be 2,749 feet high (838 meters). Compared that to
the Burj's 2,719 feet (829 meters), which include the spire at the top
resulting in a total of 163 floors.

Sky City will use an astonishing 220,000 tons of steel. The structure will
be able to house 31,400 people of both "high and low income communities".
The company says that the residential area will use 83-percent of the
building, while the rest will be offices, schools, hospitals, shops and
restaurants. People will move up and down using 104 high speed elevators.

The record figures don't stop there: in addition to the 90-day
construction time—as opposed to the 210 days initially reported by the
Chinese media—the company claims it will cost $1,500 per square meter as
opposed to the Burj's $15,000 per square meter, all thanks to the prefab
technology.They also claim it will be able to sustain earthquakes of a 9.0
magnitude and be resistant to fire for "up to three hours," as well as be
extremely energy efficient thanks to thermal insulation, four-panned
windows and different air conditioning techniques that were already used
in their previous constructions.

To be honest, it all seems like a tall tale to me—no pun intended.
Although the credentials of the company seem to be quite serious, one
thing is to build a 30-story hotel in 15 days and the other is to built
the largest skyscraper in the world in 90 days. It just boggles the mind.
Maybe it was April's Fool in China yesterday.

Whatever it is, we will discover it in March. If it's confirmed, the
time-lapse videos are going to be epic. [Broad Sustainable Building
<http://www.broad.com:8089/english/product/bsb/bsb.asp> via Construction
Week Online 
<http://www.constructionweekonline.com/article-19593-broad-sticks-to-90-day
-worlds-tallest-target/#.UKtDjaU7RJM>]