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| Twisting, tapering, triangular form |
Sky scrapers used to be just about being taller and powerful. A symbolism of power and influence. But today,
it is no longer about just being grandiose mega structures. Most of today’s
tallest structures are found in Asia and the Middle East. And the tug of war
between these two regions pertaining to skyscrapers is so immense that the
ranks of the sky scrapers are short lived. So the interest is now being seen
shifted from just about sheer size to a more three dimensional approach;
sustainability and net zero energy buildings. Gensler’s Shanghai Tower being
built in the Pudong district of Shanghai, China, is one such ground breaking
project.
When the Shanghai Tower opens in early 2015 it would be the
second tallest skyscraper in the world, after Burj Khalifa in Dubai. The 2,073ft tall tower has nine cylinders
with attenuating diameters stacked on each other enveloped by an inner facade.
And a twisting triangular facade wraps the whole structure giving it the
distinctive twisting, tapering, triangular form. This is not just an inspired
conceptual design. It was designed with
performance uttermost in mind, through a meticulous study of how wind forces
act on the tower. Strive to reduce the wind load on the structure, gave the
tower its unique and iconic shape. The taper and rotation of the tower reduces
the lateral wind load on the structure by 24 percent and subsequently reduces
the structural cost by $63 million.
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| Section of the Shanghai Tower with a double facade |
Shanghai Tower will be the world’s first double facade
building of its size. The facades are built with aluminium extrusions with a
resistance to thermal wear and tear, and insulated glass with a spectrally
selective low emission coating. The outer facade wraps the two storey mechanical
floors which defines the geometry of the building. These floors divide the
structure into nine zones, each with a multi functional vertical sky garden at
the base. The void atria in each of the nine zones act as thermal buffer zones
during the relatively mild winters and hot summers of Shanghai, reducing the
cooling and heating load on the HVAC system of the building. The first few feet of each zone will be heated
and cooled with perimeter fan coil units during the weather extremes. And the
rest of the void will ventilated with natural updraft and regulated top
exhausts. Shading measures like fritted glass surface for exterior and interior
curtain walls and several others were employed to diminish the glare and heat
build up in the interior.
The mechanical floors at the zone transitions house the
electrical transformers, ventilation systems and water systems. Each vertical
zone is served from the mechanical floors above and below it. This
significantly reduces the energy utilized for transportation. Water treatment
plants with in the building, recycling grey water and storm water for
irrigation and toilet flushing reduces the pumping energy alongside a decrement
in source water consumption.
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| The sky garden |
The design strategies used in the tower is estimated to reduce
the annual energy costs by a significant 21 percent. A natural gas fired co-generation system generates electricity and heat energy for low zone areas
and the high pressure steam generated by this plant is garnered the by the HVAC
system of the tower to feed the heating and domestic water heating system. And
chilled plants are located at the base and higher mechanical floors for cooling
purposes. The Outdoor air is pre- conditioned, filtered and measured before
being pumped into the occupied zones by the HVAC system of the building.
These sustainable design features of the tower is targeted to
get it an LEED gold rating and a China Three-Star standard. The Shanghai tower
is said to set a bench mark for the future skyscraper projects. And for the
time being it would be a bright shining star celebrity in the skyscraper world
until another ground breaking project bigger than this surpasses it.
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