Nanjing Greenland Financial Center
The Nanjing Greenland Financial Center is a 89-story, 450 meter (1500 foot) tall skyscraper being constructed in Nanjing, China. The building is scheduled to be completed in 2009. The building will contain retail space and office space on the lower floors, and restaurants and a public observatory on the upper stories with a spire at the top.
The tower will be the fifth tallest building in the world and second tallest in China behind the Shanghai World Financial Center. The 72nd-story observation floor, at 287 meters (940 feet) off the ground, will offer a panoramic view of the city of Nanjing as well as the Yangtze River, the Ningzheng Ridge mountains and two nearby lakes.
Nanjing Greenland Financial Center was designed by Adrian Smith and Marshall Strabala of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill who also designed the Burj Dubai tower in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Gordon Gill and Adrian Smith continued with the design after the competition was won. Originally the tower had a different design and was to have been 300 meters tall. The name was the Nanjing International Financial Center.
The building has a triangular form that relates well to the size and shape of the site, offering panoramic views of the city of Nanjing, as well as the surrounding lakes and mountains. The form of the building evokes the three historical elements of Nanjing including the Yangtze River, the garden landscapes and the column and dragon iconography that is prevalent throughout Chinese culture.
Nanjing Greenland Financial Center is a mixed-used building with a 500-room hotel, office space, retail space and underground parking. At the top of the tower there are several restaurants and a 72nd-floor observatory. There are landscaped glass atria throughout the building as well as a garden and outdoor swimming pool on tower's podium roof. Floors 70 through 88 are the mechanical floors located in the building's spire.
The tower's central core is encased by two interlocking forms that resemble dancing dragons from Chinese culture. The building's exterior walls consist of panes of glass set at angles within staggered modules, resembling the scales of a dragon. Horizontal and vertical seams work to separate the building's textured glass surfaces, evoking images of the Yangtze River.
The construction materials of the building consist of steel, reinforced concrete and steel.
The spire of the building reaches 458 meters. At night the tower atria and spire are lit up, shining like a beacon and providing a striking new landmark on Nanjing's skyline. The Nanjing Greenland Financial Center is another impressive skyscraper along with others such as the Shanghai World Financial Center, Jin Mao Tower, and Two International Finance Centre. Other skyscrapers such as the Shanghai Tower, Guangzhou TV & Sightseeing Tower, and the China 117 Tower will be completed in the next few years as China continues to modernize and build some of the most impressive skyscrapers in the world today.