Now let me ask you a question. When you look at many of the new and cool towers, is there a specific place they allude to? Can an ultra-modern supertall be of a place? I myself am not very convinced that they can. There is a short list of conditions, which seem to follow most skyscrapers. It is perhaps because of this list that most towers are of noplace- the great thing about this project, the Miyi Tower by Studio SHIFT, is that it intentionally breaks many of these conditions, and breaks them well. The list goes: Monolithic, phallic, skinned (often glass or perforated surfaces), and thoroughly economized space-wise. 
This tower, to be an educational building for residents and the many tourists who visit the area each year, is monolithic and iconic, it is not phallic, and its skin is an inversion of the typical skin. As the architects describe below, whereas most towers are skinned with a perforated opaque surface (this makes sense, it’s certainly easier to punch many holes in one than create many holes because of many small things), the Miyi Tower is skinned with thousands of rod-like objects which are fixed to a lightweight framework. This multi-skin encloses both conditioned and unconditioned spaces, many of which are double height. And there’s a strike through the last of the items on the list. Double height is not economy of space- but it is much nicer to dwell in. Since I completely left the topic I began with, I will return. This tower really feels as if it belongs in the New South Town of Miyi County in Southeastern China. It just fits.
