Guangzhou snubs design for tallest tower
By Zheng Caixiong (China Daily)
Updated: 2004-11-19 22:31

The Guangzhou municipal government on Friday rejected a design for the construction of the world's highest building.

This design won the public bidding for the western tower of the twin skyscrapers. [newsphoto]

Design No 4 for the western tower of twin skyscrapers in Guangzhou, the capital of Guangdong Province, requires the building to reach a height of 608.8 metres, becoming the tallest structure in the world.

It is more than 100 metres higher than the 101-storey World Financial Centre in Taipei, Taiwan Province. Reaching 508 metres, the Taipei World Financial Centre is currently the world's tallest building.

Design No 8, titled "a long crystal," has recently won the public bidding for the western tower of the twin skyscrapers in the southern Chinese metropolis, according to a senior urban planning official.

Pan An, director of the Guangzhou Municipal Bureau of Urban Planning, said the design No. 8 requires the building to reach a height of 400 metres, 200 metres lower than the design No 11.

It is also 20 metres lower than the Shanghai Jinmao Tower, currently the tallest building on the Chinese mainland.

But it will replace the city's 391-metre-high Guangzhou CITIC Plaza to be the tallest building in Guangdong Province, Pan said.

A total of 12 domestic and overseas companies have participated in the final round of the public biddings to design the tower.

Ye Ronggui, a professor in the Architectural Department of South China University of Engineering, said the design No 8 would fit in better with the styles and features of architecture in the southern province.

"In addition to saving construction costs, the special design helps the tower resist typhoons, storms and other natural disasters that frequently strike the city," Ye said.

Construction of the western tower is expected to start next year, while construction of the eastern tower is scheduled to begin later in 2006.

Located on the Pearl River in Guangzhou's Tianhe District, the twin towers will become new architectural symbols of Guangzhou and a new tourist attraction.

Construction of the twin skyscrapers will cost more than 10 billion yuan (US$1.2 billion).

The local government has decided to raise the large sum of construction funds needed using a variety of sources.

The distance between the western and eastern towers will reach 300 metres.

The two towers will occupy a total ground area of 115,522.94 square metres in Guangzhou's premier business district.

In addition to luxury hotel rooms, the western tower will also include offices, restaurants, bars, international conference halls and a roof garden.

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