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Shanghai Tower

Tall Buildings and Skyscrapers

The Shanghai Tower is a 128 story, 632 meter megatall skyscraper in Lujiazui, Pudong, Shanghai, currently the tallest building in China and the world's third tallest building by height to architectural top. It was the tallest and largest LEED-CS Platinum certified building in the world from 2016 to 2025, and it was the second tallest building in the world from 2015 to 2021, until Merdeka 118 in Malaysia was completed. Its elevators were the world's fastest, at a top speed of 20.5 meters per second, until the Guangzhou CTF Finance Center surpassed them in 2017.

Facts
Building Type
Megatall Skyscraper 1
Location
Lujiazui, Pudong, Shanghai, China 1
Completed Year
2015 1
Public opening was phased between late 2014 and 2016; the source dates exterior completion to summer 2015, which this record uses.
Height (m)
632 1
Classification
Standing Status
Standing 1
Building Type
Building Type (category)
Skyscraper 1
FAQs

Why does the Shanghai Tower twist?

Wind tunnel tests showed a 24 percent saving in structural wind loading compared with a rectangular building of the same height.

The twist is structural as well as visual. The Council on Vertical Urbanism, which keeps the Skyscraper Center database, reports that wind tunnel tests confirmed a 24 percent saving in structural wind loading for the tower's twisting form compared with a rectangular building of the same height. The design by Gensler also wraps the tower in a transparent second skin that encloses ventilated atriums, which buffers the interior from outside temperatures.

How high can visitors actually go in the Shanghai Tower?

The observatory is at 562.1 meters and the highest occupied floor at 583.4 meters.

The tower's height of 632 meters is measured to its architectural top, which is not the highest floor people can reach. The Skyscraper Center lists the highest occupied floor at 583.4 meters and the observatory at 562.1 meters above the lowest significant pedestrian entrance. The building has 128 floors above ground and 5 below ground.
Connections

Has Building Type

In Style

Source Wikipedia: Shanghai Tower

Uses Element

Source Wikipedia: Shanghai Tower
Source Wikipedia: Shanghai Tower
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Source Wikipedia: Shanghai TowerLead paragraph of the cited Wikipedia article
Quote, Lead paragraph of the cited Wikipedia article
It is currently the tallest building in China, the world's third-tallest building by height to architectural top, and the world's second-tallest building by height to highest occupied floor.
Sources
1. Wikipedia: Shanghai Tower
Wikipedia
  • Lead paragraph, sentence 1
    The Shanghai Tower is a 128-story, 632-meter-tall (2,073-foot) megatall skyscraper located in Lujiazui, Pudong, Shanghai.
  • Lead paragraph, sentence 1 (place clause)
    The Shanghai Tower is a 128-story, 632-meter-tall (2,073-foot) megatall skyscraper located in Lujiazui, Pudong, Shanghai.
  • Lead paragraph, sentence 1 (height clause)
    The Shanghai Tower is a 128-story, 632-meter-tall (2,073-foot) megatall skyscraper located in Lujiazui, Pudong, Shanghai.
  • Construction section
    The exterior was completed in summer 2015, and work was considered complete in September 2014.
  • standing status determination, wikipedia summary
    Although the building was originally scheduled to open to the public in November 2014, the actual public-use date was shifted to February 2015.
  • In Style: High-Tech Architecture, Wikipedia categories
    Category:High-tech architecture
  • Uses Element: Steel, Wikipedia article
    By late December 2011, the tower's foundations had been completed, and its steel construction had risen above the 30th floor.
  • Uses Element: Glass, Wikipedia article
    The tower takes the form of nine cylindrical buildings stacked atop each other that total 128 floors, all enclosed by the inner layer of the glass facade.
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