December 02, 2008
New Mega Skyscraper for Shanghai
The construction of the new Shanghai Center mega highrise tower is underway in the Lujiazui area of Shanghai's Pudong district (China's self-styled "Wall Street"). Designed by American A&E firm Gensler, the building will be a staggering 632 meters (over 2,000 feet) high with 121 floors when completed around 2014. The building is already generating controversy and has been criticized in the Chinese press as extravagent and wasteful.
Skyscrapers do tend to follow economic crashes. Big projects take years to plan and finance and often can't be stopped once they are under construction. The Empire State Building in New York City began just months after the 1929 stock market crash. When it was completed a few years later the world was mired in the Great Depression. The building dominated the New York skyline for decades after that and wasn't topped until a generation later. Will the Shanghai Center see a similar fate...?
Labels: panic of 2008
# posted by Sinomania! : 12/02/2008 04:50:00 PM
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