Design

© Mori Building Co. Ltd.

The 101-story Shanghai World Financial Center, a symbol of commerce and culture that speaks to the city’s emergence as a global capital, is the world’s tallest building both by height (1,614 feet/492 meters) and by highest occupied floor (1,555 feet/474 meters). Its observatory is the highest publicly accessible built space in the world.

Located in Shanghai’s Pudong district, a special economic zone conceived in the early 1990s as a hub of international business, the mixed-used SWFC is a vertical city, containing offices, conference facilities, retail, dining, and the world’s highest hotel (the Park Hyatt Shanghai from the 79th to 93rd floors). The glass-clad tower plays a civic role both on the district’s skyline and within the public realm of its streets. Its boldest feature, the 164-foot-wide portal carved through its upper levels relieves the enormous wind pressures on the building.

The project activates the ground plane through function-specific entrance volumes (hotel, office, and retail) that extend from its stone-clad base. To further connect the activities of the building to the city, the retail volume is oriented toward a public park planned for an adjacent site. There is also an on-site bus stop for visitors en route to the observation deck.