The Guangzhou Chow Tai Fook Finance Centre (), also called East Tower, it is a tall mixed-use skyscraper in

Guangzhou Guangzhou (, ; ; or ; ), also known as Canton () and Chinese postal romanization, alternatively romanized as Kwongchow or Kwangchow, is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Guangdong Provinces of China, province in South China, sou ...

Guangdong Guangdong (, ), alternatively romanized as Canton or Kwangtung, is a coastal province in South China on the north shore of the South China Sea. The capital of the province is Guangzhou. With a population of 126.01 million (as of 2020 ...

, which was completed in October 2016. It is the tallest completed building in Guangzhou, the third-tallest in China, and the eighth-tallest in the world. The Guangzhou CTF Finance Centre has a total of 111 above ground and five below ground floors and houses a shopping mall, offices, apartments, and a

hotel A hotel is an establishment that provides paid lodging on a short-term basis. Facilities provided inside a hotel room may range from a modest-quality mattress in a small room to large suites with bigger, higher-quality beds, a dresser, a re ...

. The skyscraper has a

gross floor area In architecture, construction, and real estate, floor area, floor space, or floorspace is the area (measured as square feet or square metres) taken up by a building or part of it. The ways of defining "floor area" depend on what factors of the buil ...

of , of which a little over 20% is not part of the skyscraper itself, but of the podium connected to it. The Guangzhou CTF Finance Centre is situated on a lot along Zhujiang East Road in

Zhujiang New Town Zhujiang New Town or Zhujiang New City is a central business district in Tianhe District, Guangzhou, Guangdong, China. It is bounded by Huangpu Avenue on the north, the Pearl River on the south, Guangzhou Avenue on the west and the South Chin ...

, Guangzhou's

central business district A central business district (CBD) is the commercial and business centre of a city. It contains commercial space and offices, and in larger cities will often be described as a financial district. Geographically, it often coincides with the "city ...

. In that neighborhood, the skyscraper is located east of the central axis with an underground mall and connections to public transportation underneath it. The Guangzhou CTF Centre is part of the

Guangzhou Twin Towers Guangzhou Twin Towers () are two skyscrapers in Guangzhou, Guangdong. They are the two tallest skyscrapers in the city. The West Tower, Guangzhou International Finance Center, was designed by Wilkinson Eyre and the East Tower, Guangzhou Chow ...

. The other tower of the pair, the tall Guangzhou International Finance Center, is located on the other side of the axis and is also known under the name "West Tower". The Guangzhou CTF Centre is therefore known as the "East Tower" as well. Both towers have a similar height, size, and function, and are situated close to the tall

Canton Tower The Canton Tower (), formally Guangzhou TV Astronomical and Sightseeing Tower (), is a -tall multipurpose observation tower in the Haizhu District of Guangzhou ( alternatively romanized as ''Canton''). The tower was topped out in 2009 and it ...

. The Guangzhou CTF Finance Centre is owned by

Chow Tai Fook Enterprises Chow Tai Fook group is a Hong Kong–based, privately-owned conglomerate with holdings in the jewellery, property development, hotel, department store, transportation, energy, telecommunications, port, casino, and other businesses. Despite the ...

, and houses the world's fastest elevators, which can reach speeds up to .

Architecture

The Guangzhou CTF Finance Centre consists of a skyscraper and an eight-floor podium, that is connected to the skyscraper. The podium features a high atrium with a glass roof. The skyscraper is supported by a square core with sides of and eight concrete mega columns on the sides. They are linked by outriggers and belt trusses, that are located exclusively on mechanical and refuge floors. The skyscraper has a total of four levels of steel outriggers and six sets of double-layer belt trusses. Smaller columns are in between the mega columns. The mega columns have a length up to and a width up to . They are thicker than usual to meet the Chinese

seismic code Seismic codes or earthquake codes are building codes designed to protect property and life in buildings in case of earthquakes. The need for such codes is reflected in the saying, "Earthquakes don't kill people—buildings do." Or in expanded ve ...

s and they are supported by a mat and pad foundation. This foundation sits on relatively high

bedrock In geology, bedrock is solid rock that lies under loose material ( regolith) within the crust of Earth or another terrestrial planet. Definition Bedrock is the solid rock that underlies looser surface material. An exposed portion of be ...

. The facade of the skyscraper is made out of glass and has vertical

mullion A mullion is a vertical element that forms a division between units of a window or screen, or is used decoratively. It is also often used as a division between double doors. When dividing adjacent window units its primary purpose is a rigid sup ...

s, made out of white glazed

terracotta Terracotta, terra cotta, or terra-cotta (; ; ), in its material sense as an earthenware substrate, is a clay-based unglazed or glazed ceramic where the fired body is porous. In applied art, craft, construction, and architecture, terra ...

. The mullions are projecting out from the windows to create shades. The windows are operable and there are vents between them and the terracotta. Aluminum fins are located next to the vents to protect them from the wind. White LEDs are integrated into the fins to light the terracotta at night. The terracotta mullions make the exterior of the building lighter. It was not possible to create the brightness of the building by using lighter glass, since the local environmental codes do not allow more reflective glass. More standard metal mullions would have created this effect as well, but architect Forth Bagley, who lead the design, said in an interview with '' CNN'' they had chosen consciously for terracotta "to inject into the architecture an indigenous craft, that was specific to Guangzhou as a city." Furthermore, he said about the design that the skyscraper was not only set apart from the surrounding towers "by virtue of its height .. but also by its simplicity." ChowTaiFookFinanceCentreDecember2015

The shape of the Guangzhou CTF Finance Centre is defined by its mixed-usage: the different uses require different floor sizes and the building is shaped to accommodate those demands. Namely, the skyscraper has setbacks at points where the usage changes: the setbacks are located between the offices and the apartments, between the apartments and the hotel, and between the hotel and the crown of the building. The setbacks are angled and contain

parapet A parapet is a barrier that is an extension of the wall at the edge of a roof, terrace, balcony, walkway or other structure. The word comes ultimately from the Italian ''parapetto'' (''parare'' 'to cover/defend' and ''petto'' 'chest/breast'). ...

s with sky terraces. The top of the building is angled as well, but doesn't contain a sky terrace. The angled parapets point at the tops of various nearby tall buildings. Because of the setbacks, the building looks different from every angle. Different techniques were used to make the Guangzhou CTF Finance Centre more environmentally friendly. For example, it has efficient

chiller A chiller is a machine that removes heat from a liquid coolant via a vapor-compression, adsorption refrigeration, or absorption refrigeration cycles. This liquid can then be circulated through a heat exchanger to cool equipment, or another p ...

s and the podium's roof features solar panels. Moreover, the heat from the condensers of the chillers is recovered. The office and retail parts of the Guangzhou CTF Finance Centre together received a

LEED Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) is a green building certification program used worldwide. Developed by the non-profit U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), it includes a set of rating systems for the design, construction ...

Gold certification in 2018 after having received a pre-certification in 2013.

Layout

The below ground floors and the podium of the Guangzhou CTF Finance Centre feature a shopping mall and an underground parking facility with 1,705 spaces. The shopping mall is called "K11 Art Mall" and is owned by K11, a subsidiary of Chow Tai Fook Enterprises. It features a 4DX theater with eight rooms and occupies the entire eight-floor podium and two below ground floors. The mall's surface area amounts to around . The base of the actual skyscraper is occupied by the office lobby, the entrance hall of the apartments and a part of the hotel. The Guangzhou CTF Finance Centre is connected to other nearby buildings through outdoor pedestrian bridges and to subway lines 3, 5, and APM through underground links. The offices occupy the floors 7 through 66, but are interrupted by two mechanical floors. Next to the ( GFA) of Class A office space, the office floors house a

sky lobby A sky lobby is an intermediate interchange floor in a skyscraper where people can change from an express elevator that stops only at the sky lobby to a local elevator that stops at a subset of higher floors. When designing supertall buildings ...

and a 150-person auditorium. The office floors are owned by K11. 24 floors with a total of 355 serviced apartments are situated above another mechanical floor and a setback. They are owned by

Rosewood Hotel Group Rosewood Hotel Group, also known for its former trading names New World Hotel Group, New World Hospitality and legal names New World Hotel Management (BVI) Limited, New World Hotel Management Limited is a Hong Kong-based multi-national hotel ma ...

and have a total area of . 23 of those "Rosewood Residences" are

duplex apartment An apartment (American English), or flat (British English, Indian English, South African English), is a self-contained housing unit (a type of residential real estate) that occupies part of a building, generally on a single story. There are ma ...

s and some apartments have their own elevators and indoor courtyards. The apartments were designed by Perception Design. The highest sixteen floors are occupied by a

, that is separated from the apartments by another mechanical floor. The hotel, that opened in the second half of 2019, is managed by

Rosewood Hotels & Resorts Rosewood Hotels & Resorts is an international luxury hotel and resort company operating 28 hotels in 16 countries, currently owned by Hong Kong-based Rosewood Hotel Group (formerly New World Hospitality and rebranded in May 2013). It was found ...

and has a total of 251 rooms with a minimum size of . The floor area of the entire hotel amounts to . It also features meeting spaces, a ballroom, an indoor pool and seven cafes and restaurants. The sky bar and restaurant on the 107th floor are partly situated on an outdoor terrace. The meeting spaces cover an area of and the ballroom, that fits 700 people, covers an area of . Most of the interior of the hotel was designed by design firm

Yabu Pushelberg Yabu Pushelberg is an international design studio with offices in Toronto and New York. Founded in 1980 by Canadian designers George Yabu and Glenn Pushelberg, the studio has evolved from a traditional interior design firm into creative directors ...

. The setback above the hotel is covered with three terraces. The strong winds are not felt on those terraces because of the chiseled

Elevators

The Guangzhou CTF Finance Centre has 95 elevators made by

Hitachi () is a Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Chiyoda, Tokyo, Japan. It is the parent company of the Hitachi Group (''Hitachi Gurūpu'') and had formed part of the Nissan ''zaibatsu'' and later DKB Group and Fuyo G ...

, including two elevators that are among the world's fastest. In 2014, Hitachi announced that those two elevators would be able to reach and would carry passengers through the long shaft from the first to the 95th floor in approximately 43 seconds. These two elevators are used to bring hotel guests from the entrance to the lobby. In May 2016, the elevators were first tested and reached the promised maximum speed. In June 2017, the elevators were tested after having modified them to be able to deliver an even faster speed above the rated speed of 20 m/s, and they managed to reach a top speed of . This exceeded the top speed Shanghai Tower's elevators could deliver which was a top speed of , making the lifts within the Guangzhou CTF Finance Centre the world's fastest. To achieve their top speed, the elevators in the Guangzhou CTF Finance Centre use permanent magnet synchronous motors. The air pressure is adjusted in order to prevent ear blockages and the elevators have rollers to smoothen the ride. Additionally, the emergency brakes can withstand temperatures up to . Besides the two fastest elevators, the building has 28 double-deck elevators (with speeds of 150–450 m/min.), 13 high-speed elevators (210–600 m/min.), and 52 medium- and low-speed elevators. The designers chose for double-deck elevators in order to minimize the number of elevator shafts. The offices, apartments, and the hotel all have separate elevators.

Development and construction

The Guangzhou CTF Finance Centre was first meant to be similar to the Guangzhou International Finance Center, that is situated on the other side of the central axis of Zhujiang New Town, but it was decided to make the new skyscraper taller and to give it a different shape. The developer of the Guangzhou CTF Finance Centre, New World Development, which is a subsidiary of Chow Tai Fook Enterprises, held a competition to design the building. The American firm

Kohn Pedersen Fox Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates (KPF) is an American architecture firm that provides architecture, interior, programming and master planning services for clients in both the public and private sectors. KPF is one of the largest architecture firms in ...

won the competition in 2009 and thus became the main architect. The

Guangzhou Design Institute Guangzhou (, ; ; or ; ), also known as Canton () and alternatively romanized as Kwongchow or Kwangchow, is the capital and largest city of Guangdong province in southern China. Located on the Pearl River about north-northwest of Hong K ...

and Leigh & Orange became the architects of record and the British

Arup Group Arup (officially Arup Group Limited) is a British multinational professional services firm headquartered in London which provides design, engineering, architecture, planning, and advisory services across every aspect of the built environment ...

was chosen to engineer the building. The

groundbreaking Groundbreaking, also known as cutting, sod-cutting, turning the first sod, or a sod-turning ceremony, is a traditional ceremony in many cultures that celebrates the first day of construction for a building or other project. Such ceremonies are ...

took place on September 29, 2009 – about half a year after the designing process started.

China State Construction Engineering The China State Construction Engineering Corporation (CSCEC) () is the largest construction company in the world by revenue and the 8th largest general contractor in terms of overseas sales, as of 2020. While most of the assets of CSCEC were flo ...

was the contractor. The Guangzhou CTF Finance Centre was topped out in July 2014 and the cladding was finished by the end of 2015. In October 2016, the skyscraper was completed. When construction started, it was scheduled to open in the first quarter of 2016. Moreover, it was estimated back then that the building would cost more than RMB10 billion (about US$1.5 billion as of September 2009).

References

External links