Thornton Tomasetti’s Shanghai Tower Project Wins CTBUH Award for Best Tall Building Worldwide 2016
Thornton Tomasetti, the international engineering firm, announces that Shanghai Tower in China has won the Best Tall Building Worldwide 2016 award from the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat (CTBUH). Thornton Tomasetti provided structural design for the 632-meter tower, working with owner/developer, Shanghai Tower Construction & Development, design architect Gensler. The award was presented on November 3 at the 2016 Awards Symposium, Ceremony & Dinner at the Illinois Institute of Technology in Chicago.
Annually, the CTBUH Tall Building Awards recognize projects that have made extraordinary contributions to the advancement of tall buildings and the urban environment, and that have achieved sustainability at the highest and broadest level. Projects are also evaluated on their economic vitality, relevance to the community, positive effect on the inhabitants and overall effects on the environment. Shanghai Tower had previously been named Best Tall Building in Asia & Australasia and was selected for the top award from among three other regional winners.
Key Points
• Shanghai Tower is China’s tallest building and the second tallest in the world. The third in a trio of signature skyscrapers at the heart of Shanghai’s new Lujiazui Finance and Trade Zone. the 573,400-square-meter (6.2 million square feet) mixed-use development includes Class A office and retail space, a luxury hotel, connections to the Shanghai Metro and a five-story basement that houses retail, mechanical, electrical, plumbing spaces and three floors of below-grade parking. It also features the world’s highest non-enclosed observation deck.
• Thornton Tomasetti engineered a simple, safe and cost-effective structural system that enables a creative architectural form. The tower features a twisting triangular shape with a façade that curves 120 degrees from its base. Its structural system consists of a 30-by-30-meter concrete core connected to a system of outriggers and super columns supported on 947 concrete and steel bore piles driven deep into ground.
• The outrigger trusses and super columns derive stiffness from the concrete inner building, comprising an effective system for resisting wind and seismic loads for supertall buildings. Working with the architect, Thornton Tomasetti refined the tower’s form and reduced building wind loads by 24 percent, which resulted in a lighter structure and reduced material cost.
• Shanghai Tower incorporates the latest sustainable technologies, including wind turbines and solar panels as renewable energy sources to achieve a low carbon footprint. The project achieved LEED Platinum for Core and Shell certification by the U.S. Green Building Council
• Two other Thornton Tomasetti projects received honors at this year’s CTBUH awards: VIA 57 WEST in New York City won Best Tall Building Americas, and Manhattan’s Hearst Tower, for which the firm provided protective design services, received the 10 Year Award.
Executive Quotes
Dennis C.K. Poon, P.E., vice chairman, Thornton Tomasetti
“We are honored to accept the Best Tall Building Worldwide award from the CTBUH for Shanghai Tower. Working on China’s tallest building was an extremely challenging and rewarding experience. This project exemplifies the high level of innovation and collaboration that goes into the creation of supertall towers, and essentially, shaping our future cities through smart design and construction.”
