Cutglass Crystal of Chengdu
Last autumn started construction works on a multifunctional project of Greenland Tower in Chengdu, China, designed by AS + GG (Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill Architecture). Due to complete in 2018, this unusual crystalloid 100-storey-high skyscraper is to become the southwestern China region’s tallest building and the fourth-tallest in the nation. It will surpass the city’s current tallest buildings – the Chengdu IFS Towers and Chengdu International Finance Square Towers by over 200 meters.
Chengdu is a city with the 3000-year history and the capital of Sichuan province in Southwest China, as well as a major city in Western China. Chengdu is the fifth most populous city in China and one of the most important economic, finance, commerce, transportation, and communication centers in Western China.
The fertile Chengdu Plain, on which Chengdu is located, is also known as the “Country of Heaven” a phrase also often translated as “The Land of Abundance” for its rich natural resources, mild climate and abundance of cultural and historical attractions.
According to the 2010 AmCham China White Paper on the State of American Business in China, Chengdu has become a top investment destination in China. The main industries in Chengdu – including machinery, automobile, medicine, food, and information technology – are supported by numerous large-scale enterprises. In addition, an increasing number of high-tech enterprises from outside Chengdu have also settled down there.
More than 260 Fortune 500 companies and 12 consulates have established branches in Chengdu due to huge demand of Western China. Chengdu is becoming one of the favorite cities for investment in Central and Western China. China’s aviation industries have begun construction of a hightech industrial park in the city that will feature space and aviation technology. The local government plans to attract overseas and domestic companies for service outsourcing and become a well-known service outsourcing base in China and worldwide.
The Greenland Tower Chengdu was designed by Adrian Smith and Gordon Gill – the former SOM architects responsible for both the Burj Khalifa and the forthcoming Kingdom Tower in Jeddah. According to the architects, the faceted-glass form of the office and hotel tower was “inspired by the unique ice mountain topography around Chengdu”.
Drawing its architectural inspiration from the mountains that dominate the countryside around Chengdu and which are one of the world’s more unlikely whiskey producing areas, the tower features a complicated collection of angled ridges with the crystaline appearance further emphasized at night when the ridges will feature LEDs that will make the edges of the facade shimmer like ice.
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Materials provided by Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill Architecture