Devon Energy Center

[GaryOKC6]

Envious! I would love to tour the building as well. Devon is a company I admire immensely. They are one of the best corporate citizens in the US.

Dave, I was told that they give tours on Saturday. You just have to sign up for them in advance.

[CaptDave]

Thanks Gary. I will look into that.

[Bellaboo]

I visited yesterday, to look at the Christmas ornaments and some snacks. I like how they have information posted about the imported stonework. Quite impressive, the security guard even offered to take all of us in the photo with the big ornament.

[metro]

I visited yesterday, to look at the Christmas ornaments and some snacks. I like how they have information posted about the imported stonework. Quite impressive, the security guard even offered to take all of us in the photo with the big ornament.

What kind of snacks did you look at? Lol

[UnFrSaKn]

China To Build Tallest Skyscraper In 90 Days



With a 90 day warranty? *rimshot*

[UnFrSaKn]

Also...

Entire New 13-Story Building Tips Over in Shanghai

[jn1780]

Also...

Entire New 13-Story Building Tips Over in Shanghai

Makes you wonder. How is it possible to build a good foundation in 90 days let alone the entire building?

[UnFrSaKn]

Happy Holidays from Dallas...

[Aleksandr Pletnyov]

China truly is a disappointment to me. I'm so thankful the United States has laws that prevent shabby construction and stunt pulling 90day deadlines.
I would rather a building take a long time to be constructed under good terms than quick construction under shady ones.
Besides, China doesn't have exactly the best track record...

As for Devon, I really enjoy their Christmas decorations.

[shawnw]

And we thought the Sandridge forest was bad :-P

[fromdust]

That's a big dick, lol

Happy Holidays from Dallas...

[UnFrSaKn]

Diagrams - SkyscraperPage.com

[Spartan]

That's why citizen participation in the design process is so important. Although, idk, if I lived in a Chinese city I might want a moat and a forest buffer zone all around me too.

I don't think there's anything in downtown OKC so horrendous that you need a forest buffer zone...it's kind of an insult. I think people who come downtown should (and usually do) want to be part of the great environment we have down there.

[metro]

China To Build Tallest Skyscraper In 90 Days

With a 90 day warranty? *rimshot*

http://www.okctalk.com/current-event...g-90-days.html

[Rover]

I doubt any of the posters making the snide comments have actually been to China or workked with any construction there. People pass on all sorts of ignorance and bias. I've been on really sophisticated projects there and some not so much...kind of like here in U.S. many people would be shocked to know what is going on in the rest of the world. But they prefer to hang on to outdated and prejudiced beliefs.

[Bellaboo]

What kind of snacks did you look at? Lol

Didn't just look, actually bought, I had gellato, everyone else had latte's. lol

[catcherinthewry]

Here is a quote from the article:

It is not the first seemingly impossible, fast construction project by the company. In January, they built a 30-story hotel in just 15 days and it is still standing.

The fact that they feel the need to mention that it is still standing is not exactly reassuring.

[SoonerBoy18]

Here is a quote from the article:



The fact that they feel the need to mention that it is still standing is not exactly reassuring.

So why are they in such a rush to complete these buildings?

[HOT ROD]

I dislike China bashing, especially when it is also off topic. Sweeping generalizations about China are weak-minded. Do we need to have a face-off of construction blunders? Let's not and say we did.

LIKE!

I lived in China for quite a while recently and think some of our China bashing may be a bit of patriotic jealousy moreso than a true generalization. Kind of like, America has been on top for so long, now here comes the Yellow Dragon. Rather than build ourselves 'we' chose to bash their failures (when America has surely had our share). Don't get me wrong, I am as patriotic as the next person but traveling and living Internationally in China and other parts of Asia has helped me to understand that people are people the world over regardless of the political, religious, or ethnic/cultural differences (or the lack thereof) and anybody can have success and failure.

Now to my opinion - Personally, I do not think that tower will be built because Changsha is a lower 2nd-tier provincial capital city in the middle of China (Hunan state); it would be much more credible IMO if it were proposed for Shanghai, Chongqing, Beijing, or Tianjin [China's 4 mega-cities] or even Guangzhou (Canton), HK, Dongguan, Shenzhen [China's Pearl River megaplex]. Just my own knowledge of the country and where things really tend to happen there; it is a sure surprise if this will be built in Changsha Hunan.

[Urbanized]

OK, the source story doesn't seem to be written by a professional journalist, so I wouldn't concern myself too much with the "still standing" line. That doesn't necessarily discount the overall validity of the story. But a couple of things caught my eye related to numbers.

First, the story claims that the building will be built for 10% of the cost of Burj Khalifa. I guess that is not entirely shocking when you think of it more in terms of manufacture than construction. We all know that China leads the world in inexpensive manufacturing right now, for various reasons, some good and some bad (the politics of which are more appropriate for another thread). But if you consider that they are apparently pre-fabbing units and stacking them on top of each other, 90 days for the actual assembly doesn't seem entirely undoable, especially if that doesn't include the site/foundation work.

By the way, there is a hotel on the Riverwalk in San Antonio that was assembled largely in this way many years ago, including all of the furniture, telephones, lights and even towels and bed linens, I think, being in the rooms BEFORE they were shipped to the site and slid into place.

What really jumped out at me was the cost, according to the story anyway. Burj Khalifa cost $1.5 billion to build (surprising in and of itself that Burj was only twice the cost of Devon Tower), but the story says this building would be done for 10% of THAT cost, or $150 million(!!!!). If that is a true cost figure, I wouldn't be surprised if the building IS built, even if it only a second- (or third-)tier city as far as China is concerned.

[bluedogok]

I doubt any of the posters making the snide comments have actually been to China or workked with any construction there. People pass on all sorts of ignorance and bias. I've been on really sophisticated projects there and some not so much...kind of like here in U.S. many people would be shocked to know what is going on in the rest of the world. But they prefer to hang on to outdated and prejudiced beliefs.

...and some of us have worked on Chinese projects for American companies (3M, GM, Quaker Oats/Gatorade) and found that their entire gov't mandated process is corrupt, more so than here in the US, granted that was in the late 80's maybe they have improved. I spent from the middle of 1995 to early 1998 doing nothing but foreign work (Japan, China, Ireland, Russia, Mexico) and they were no doubt the worst to deal with. The whole "design bureau" setup is nothing more than a bribe, the work they did was absolutely horrendous and we had to redo everything they did. They did prelim drawings in Autocad of a Gatorade plant in Guangzhou and every sheet had a different "base" plan on it, nothing coordinated between the two. Eventually we took control of it and paid the "design bureau" as though they actually did some work. When it came to actual construction, just like here there were good ones and bad ones. Another co-worker who did apartment buildings in Guangzhou for another OKC based firm had pretty good experiences on his project. My main concern is the lack of building standards which allows the bad ones to build really bad things of which there are many more examples of in China than there is in the US in the same time period, mainly because their building industry is still maturing when ours is somewhat more mature. No doubt they will improve as time goes on from things like the Shanghai collapse. I just don't think building fast, especially a tower for the sake of building fast is a good idea anywhere.

The Telegraph - Nine held over Shanghai building collapse

[Urbanized]

Excuse me, after taking a second look my math might be a little off, as the comparison with Burj Khalifa was a $ per square meter comparison, and the overall floor area of each building is surely not identical. But the fact remains that the price discussed would be tiny compared with what it would cost to build a similar-sized building here, using traditional construction methods.

[LocoAko]

Some pics from my first trip to the Devon Tower after attending the tree lighting. Not as good as a lot of others here, and I lacked a tripod, but was super impressed (coming from someone from NYC). They sure didn't skimp on the ornaments!

[Pete]

Thanks for the photos!

Looking awesome down there.

[ILoveMalania]

A few Devon shots...


Seasons Greetings by iLoveMalania, on Flickr


Ornamental by iLoveMalania, on Flickr