The World’s Fourth Tallest Building in China by KPF Is Now Complete
The Ping An Finance Center in Shenzhen, China is finally complete, and it has been ranked by the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat (CTBUH) as the world’s fourth tallest building. It comes in place after Dubai’s Burj Khalifa, China’s own Shanghai Tower, and the Royal Clock Tower in Mecca. The 599-meter-high tower was designed by the American architecture firm Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates (KPF). It is comprised of 115 floors, which include a large podium with a multi-storey atrium for public services like restaurants, retail, and transit options, as well as office space for the Ping An Life Insurance Company and the other tenants on the upper floors.
Courtesy of CTBUH
According to the CTBUH, the tower is shaped like a “taught steel cable, outstretched by the sky and the ground at once.” It slightly tapers to the top, and it is crowned by a pyramid-shaped figure. Its skeletal form is identifiable by the eight composite columns by protruding at its four corners, and it is enveloped in the world’s largest stainless steel façade. 1,700 tons of corrosion-resistant stainless steel were utilized for the tower’s reflective façade which seems to be almost golden under the sunlight. The inclinations in the façade, also, reduces the wind loads by 35%, making the tower’s overall design both, efficient and iconic.
