Chinese Firm Approved To Raise World's Tallest Building In 90 Days 307
kkleiner writes "The long anticipated Chinese construction project called Sky City, a 220-story building that can house 30,000 people, has finally received approval from the central government to break ground. The firm Broad Sustainable Building previously constructed a prefab 30-story building in 15 days, but for Sky City, they have an even more aggressive schedule: 90 days to build 2,750 feet into the air. Once completed, the building will be a place for people to both live and work, with recreational facilities, theaters, a school, and a hospital all within the structure."
A year in development/approval (Score:2, Interesting)
The inhabitat story linked to in the prior post was written a year ago (with plans to be constructed by end of January 2013). So they are still covering at least some bases not rushing through for an arbitrary deadline.
Re: 90 days to raise... (Score:2, Interesting)
Reminds me of the Shanghai building collapse where a whole building fell over on its side.
http://blogs.wsj.com/chinarealtime/2009/06/29/shanghai-building-collapses-nearly-intact/
Re:Built in 90 days (Score:5, Interesting)
You're not the only one that thinks so. From TFA:
Head of Structures for WSP Middle East, Bart Leclercq, told Middle East Architect, “I don’t think it’s possible to build [an 838m tower] as quickly as they claim. If they manage to build this structure in three months then I will give up structural engineering. I will hang my hat and retire. I will be eating humble pie as well.”
Leclercq likes the idea of prefabrication but says concrete poured onsite in tall buildings provides stiffness, and the time it takes concrete to cure is non-negotiable. He thinks the five-year mark set by the Burj Khalifa is about as good as it gets with current techniques and technologies.
Empire State Building Built in 14 months (Score:3, Interesting)
You're not the only one that thinks so. From TFA:
Head of Structures for WSP Middle East, Bart Leclercq, told Middle East Architect, “I don’t think it’s possible to build [an 838m tower] as quickly as they claim. If they manage to build this structure in three months then I will give up structural engineering. I will hang my hat and retire. I will be eating humble pie as well.”
Leclercq likes the idea of prefabrication but says concrete poured onsite in tall buildings provides stiffness, and the time it takes concrete to cure is non-negotiable. He thinks the five-year mark set by the Burj Khalifa is about as good as it gets with current techniques and technologies.
Five years to build with current technology?
The Empire State Building in New York was built in 14 months.
Maybe they should look at using 1930's technology.
Re:Old news, obsoleted six months ago (Score:5, Interesting)
I'll see your 210 days and raise you a Nov 16th, 2012 quote by Juliet Jiang, senior vice president of Broad Group [mmail.com.my]:
Re:Empire State Building Built in 14 months (Score:4, Interesting)
How much "building time" is actual building? (Score:4, Interesting)
This isn't a rhetorical question. I really want to know. AFAIK in the US you have to have plans drawn before you build, so building time is actual building; but plans are sometimes changed even during building, right? How much do they fudge that to the point where "building" is actually planning and building? Now the WTC replacement took a really long time; but most of it was arguing.
Have the Chinese cut out all the arguing and decided that they won't modify plans during construction even if they should?
I'm inclined to think "no". If I had to come up with a plan to erect a skyscraper in 90 days, I'd design one prefab box that could be stacked N high, and I'd stack them. I'd base the "box" design on an entire previous building, just stronger. Having seen renderings of the proposed structure, it looks like that's what they did.
Coming Chinese real estate crash? (Score:4, Interesting)
Japan had plans to build crazy "arcologies" like this in the late '80s-early '90s, just before their real estate market cratered hard.