China to Assemble World's Tallest Building in 90 Days

[Just the facts]

From the company that built a 30 story hotel in 360 hours, we are now going to get the world's tallest building in just 90 days. Construction hasn't even started and it will be done by the end of March.

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

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.

Here is a time-lapse video on the 30 story hotel in 360 hours (15 days to you and me).

[RadicalModerate]

Headline o' The Future:
Minor earthquake reduces world's tallest building to China'a largest rubble pile in 90 seconds

Pundit quips: They don't build 'em like they used to
Bystander notes: And this is why

[Just the facts]

From the article

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.

Also found this little tid-bit of great interest.

the company claims it will cost $1,500 per square meter as opposed to the Burj's $15,000 per square meter

At 1/10 the cost Devon Tower could have gone up in 40 days and only cost $50 million.

[RadicalModerate]

Accusations of decimal shifting directed at Chinese engineering firm
Assurance should have read '0.09 earthquake'

[ljbab728]

Kerry, did you check on how the building will relate to the street to promote walkability? LOL

[bluedogok]

It helps when you aren't building to standards that most of the rest of the world uses.

[jn1780]

I read somewhere where engineers think this building is going to sway terribly.

[Mel]

I doubt if any members of the ruling party will reside there.

[venture]

I guess say what you will, but I do find this somewhat fascinating. If we can find away to build high density buildings at a much lower cost and quicker, that is only going to help with filling in urban areas.

[Just the facts]

Kerry, did you check on how the building will relate to the street to promote walkability? LOL

LOL. They didn't show a picture but if it is like their 30 story hotel it won't.

[Just the facts]

I guess say what you will, but I do find this somewhat fascinating. If we can find away to build high density buildings at a much lower cost and quicker, that is only going to help with filling in urban areas.

That is what I was thinking. They can build a 5 story building in 1 day.

[kevinpate]

This is interesting, but I'm finding myself more interested in their various ghost cities.

[ljbab728]

For some reason this reminds me of a picture I took in Madrid, Spain in 1973. It'a a skyscraper being constructed from the top going down.

[Plutonic Panda]

I bet when this thing collapses in 30 years the Devon tower will still be looking good as new.

[adaniel]

This is interesting, but I'm finding myself more interested in their various ghost cities.

This. The really amazing thing for this building is if they can fill it up to a respectable level, lest it end up like the other increasingly empty structures they are building in China.

[Just the facts]

As feared, the place will suck at ground level. So what if they can build it 90 days if it ruins the area for 100 years. Like Dubai, it is built to be admired from afar or from inside, but is not designed to actually be usable.

[Snowman]

As feared, the place will suck at ground level. So what if they can build it 90 days if it ruins the area for 100 years. Like Dubai, it is built to be admired from afar or from inside, but is not designed to actually be usable.

I wonder why they did not try to make it fit more naturally into the street crossings, which could allow easy access to parkland on one or two of the sides.

[Just the facts]

I noticed their 30 story hotel was also be built with nothing around it. I wonder if they really are concerned that it might fall.

[CaptDave]

The modular construction is pretty interesting and definitely permits speedy build times. I wonder how the forces of the wind causing the building to move back and forth affect the fastening system for the modules over time. I am sure they engineered something to account for this but I am interested to find out how they did it. I think this type of construction can be aesthetically pleasing and of high quality if speed, cost, and quality are balanced.

At this cost for construction, and the speed at which it can be done, imagine how quick we could fill in numerous vacant lots in downtown OKC with mid rise structures built using these methods. Even if only a few residential buildings were built, the cost and rapid availability could be quite a jump start for downtown. The main problem would be there isn't a factory in the US that builds the modules at this time as far as I know.

[venture]

I noticed their 30 story hotel was also be built with nothing around it. I wonder if they really are concerned that it might fall.

With any new method there are always going to be failures. It is the only way to continue to improve things.

[Just the facts]

The IRS building downtown is modular. It was constructed in only 154 days.

http://www.pci.org/view_file.cfm?fil...MAY-JUNE-2.pdf

[Stan Silliman]

Is the offsite preparation time taken into account? Many times modular construction
involves weeks and months of offsite prep which makes the field assembly go faster.
However, when you account for the offsite prep and compare it to conventional
methods sometimes the speedy results are not as flabbergasting as advertised.

When I was involved in the Sonic construction nationwide there were so many things
made in advance, they shot for break ground to opening day in 25-30 days.

[jedicurt]

so did making the prefab sections also only take the 15 days? sure from the time they started till they were done at the site was 15 days. but did they spend a month or two before hand making all the prefab pieces? it's still very quick. but i'm curious as to how long it really took

[Just the facts]

Note: there is a reason why I used the word Assemble in the thread title. This tower isn't going from idea to move-in in 90 days. The assembly time is 90 days. However, I'll bet it is a lot faster to build a floor on the ground than it is 300' in the air. Plus, they can build more than one floor at a time off site. On a tower they can only build one floor at a time.