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Chinese Firm Approved To Raise World's Tallest Building In 90 Days
kkleiner writes "The long anticipated Chinese construction project called Sky City, a 220-story building that can house 30,000 people, has finally received approval from the central government to break ground. The firm Broad Sustainable Building previously constructed a prefab 30-story building in 15 days, but for Sky City, they have an even more aggressive schedule: 90 days to build 2,750 feet into the air. Once completed, the building will be a place for people to both live and work, with recreational facilities, theaters, a school, and a hospital all within the structure."
Hey, that is 10 days less than it takes BBC to fix a clock on their homepage :)
Falls down in 90 seconds.
And if anyone thinks I'm being unfair they should read up on the safety compromises chinese railways made in the rush to build high speed lines in record time.
"Arcology" is the term of reference...
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Is something to be wary of.
This is history in the making, humanity's first hive city. Glory to the Emperor!
Shouldn't they work on filling those empty cities before they build more stuff? Or maybe reduce pollution?
The inhabitat story linked to in the prior post was written a year ago (with plans to be constructed by end of January 2013). So they are still covering at least some bases not rushing through for an arbitrary deadline.
The Fine Article is a full year old. On October 17 2012 the very same source reported that the firm revised its plans, pointing to a more reasonable (but still very short) 210 days construction time. http://inhabitat.com/worlds-tallest-skyscraper-to-be-built-in-210-days-instead-of-90-as-originally-planned/
Nuffsaid
________
Don't know about his cat, but Schroedinger is definitely dead.
I realise that many /. readers are from the US, but out of politeness to the rest of the world, it would have been nice to provide metric units in the summary in addition to the imperial units. Yes, I can go and convert them and so can others, but such accumulated waste of time could have been easily avoided.
That's about $65/sq ft, somewhere around the cheapest US cities or Berlin. Most Asian and European cities are far more expensive. So, these kinds of building may make sense. I'd worry about maintenance, crime, and long-term value, though.
Nah. Fill the whole damn building with them. The lower floors will be just as lethal whether this pancakes, shears, or tips over.
I am not one to wish ill on anyone, but the Chinese will have this one coming to them. Their lust for speed and the need to "wow the world with superior Chinese methodology" will ultimately fall around their ears. They may be building cities and building at break-neck speed, but a lot of their infrastructure is rotten to the core. My prediction? The failure of their bullet train was just a glimpse of the future. I see a lot more failure from their corrupt business practices. Couple this with the social unrest of the one-child per family, resulting in 30 million unmarried men, and you have the fodder stimulating a revolution.
Reminds me of the Shanghai building collapse where a whole building fell over on its side.
http://blogs.wsj.com/chinarealtime/2009/06/29/shanghai-building-collapses-nearly-intact/
...a few seconds to collapse!
Prefab blocks, erected on site, what could possibly go wrong?
I found it very hard to google the average foot size, so i converted it for you all to see.
Hivemind harvest in progress..
There are two kinds of failure. The failure of ambitious dreams that maybe we'll see in china. And the never ending failure of the miserable cynical bastards in the west who never open their mouths but to whine about how terrible everything is. People so fundamentally opposed to a better world tomorrow that the highest political ambition is austerity (both economic and environmental).
You want to talk about rotten infrastructure and social unrest? Let's see where another ten years of politicians "saving money" get's you.
build 2,750 feet into the air
Is it really cynical to say "Look, corner cutting in the name of big name projects is well documented. I worry this will end very poorly."?
Or are you just trying to make yourself feel superior?
In total it takes about 7 months. That is still a lot faster than building traditionally. Moving the fabrication to a factory, where the environment is controlled and heavy, more permanent machinery can be installed and used, clearly is more efficient.
You're not the only one that thinks so. From TFA:
Head of Structures for WSP Middle East, Bart Leclercq, told Middle East Architect, “I don’t think it’s possible to build [an 838m tower] as quickly as they claim. If they manage to build this structure in three months then I will give up structural engineering. I will hang my hat and retire. I will be eating humble pie as well.”
Leclercq likes the idea of prefabrication but says concrete poured onsite in tall buildings provides stiffness, and the time it takes concrete to cure is non-negotiable. He thinks the five-year mark set by the Burj Khalifa is about as good as it gets with current techniques and technologies.
Five years to build with current technology?
The Empire State Building in New York was built in 14 months.
Maybe they should look at using 1930's technology.
Couple this with the social unrest of the one-child per family, resulting in 30 million unmarried men [blogspot.com], and you have the fodder stimulating a revolution.
How is the imbalance caused by the one-child per family policy? It was caused by the selective abortion by short-sighted people who thought that having an unmarried male heir is better than a married female heir (either that or they thought that they were the only people with the genius idea of making sure they'd have a son)
Other points - spot on.
There is a difference between a building collapsing because it was the first of it's kind 100 years ago and a building collapsing because the inspector was paid off by the guy selling substandard cement, 100 years after the materials and architectural engineering have been worked out. There were some high-profile crane collapses in Manhattan in the past few years that demonstrate stupidity and corruption if you want a US example.
W..w..W - Willy Waterloo washes Warren Wiggins who is washing Waldo Woo.
The building itself is well built from what i can see, but you can't prefab a foundation, and a real foundation takes time.
IANASE (I am not a structural engineer) but there is serious concern about prefab for something this height. FTA:
Head of Structures for WSP Middle East, Bart Leclercq ... likes the idea of prefabrication but says concrete poured onsite in tall buildings provides stiffness, and the time it takes concrete to cure is non-negotiable. He thinks the five-year mark set by the Burj Khalifa is about as good as it gets with current techniques and technologies.
I'd be very interested to hear from anyone here who has expertise in concrete.
Yes if they'd only split their Communist Party into red and blue teams with minor ideological differences, and give lip service to the people's needs while clearly indicating that they give no fucks through their actions, they could be brought up to US standards of freedom and democracy.
"When information is power, privacy is freedom" - Jah-Wren Ryel
Yes having a choice between Obama and Bush is much much better! China is a 1 party state, the USA is a "two" party state where both parties basically do exactly the same thing.
Your point is well taken, but so far there's still worlds of difference between China and the USA.
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
This isn't a rhetorical question. I really want to know. AFAIK in the US you have to have plans drawn before you build, so building time is actual building; but plans are sometimes changed even during building, right? How much do they fudge that to the point where "building" is actually planning and building? Now the WTC replacement took a really long time; but most of it was arguing.
Have the Chinese cut out all the arguing and decided that they won't modify plans during construction even if they should?
I'm inclined to think "no". If I had to come up with a plan to erect a skyscraper in 90 days, I'd design one prefab box that could be stacked N high, and I'd stack them. I'd base the "box" design on an entire previous building, just stronger. Having seen renderings of the proposed structure, it looks like that's what they did.
For all intensive purposes, "whom" is no longer a word. That begs the question, "who cares"?
Japan had plans to build crazy "arcologies" like this in the late '80s-early '90s, just before their real estate market cratered hard.
"When information is power, privacy is freedom" - Jah-Wren Ryel
How do you carry on your family name with a female heir?
By not supporting archaic social customs that suggest males are superior to females and are the only way to extend your family legacy.
You forget not everyone has your cultural values
Right, some of us believe in equality.
Apparently wizard is not a legitimate career path, so I chose programmer instead.
Couple this with the social unrest of the one-child per family, resulting in 30 million unmarried men, and you have the fodder stimulating a revolution.
Revolution, or war with Taiwan / US.
As soon as they figure out how to move a couple million guys across the water fast. Look out.
African or European?
The rubble will be Asian. The idea that they would ship in fresh rubble from another continent is hard to swallow.
IAAASE (I actually AM a structural engineer) and I am definitely concerned. Concrete will have to be poured on site, since there will need to be a homogenous shear force resistance from the top of this thing all the way down to the bottom. If the sections were simply bolted together, then 200+ vertical slip-critical connections is going to give you a heck of a wobble.
Poured reinforced concrete is a composite connection, the steel acting to counter the moment effects and tension forces in concrete.
However, I have not seen all of the plans for this thing, and if they were to assemble, say, 20 storeys with formworks for shear assemblies, then poured a twenty story concrete lift on site, waited three days to achieve 75% curing strength, then kept going with 20 more storeys, this could work. It's not impossible, but there's a lot of problems that, while SOLVABLE, would never get approval in North America due to unacceptable levels of risk.
It's not a suggestion that male names are superior, it's a means to strengthen familial bonds.
A primary result (intended or otherwise) of couples has always been reproduction.
The lineage of the Mother is never in doubt.
If the father has his name attached to said resulting offspring, and the assurances of the Mother that the child is his, he will usually accept that it is and help support both the child and the mother. Otherwise, there is a much lower rate of acceptance and fathers (or possible fathers) will leave them claiming it's another males child.
Strangely enough, this has been studied. I read a science article on it about a month or two ago.
No, I am not a sociologist or anything, but the info is out there, you just have to look for it.
I would be really scared to be near this building- much less in it.
They need to require that any suppliers spend time in the building after it is finished.
She was like chocolate when she drank... semi-sweet at first and then increasingly bitter.
You only have a choice between Obama and Bush at the end of a very long and involved process of vetting and primaries that is reasonably democratic, although many people do not participate out of laziness and ignorance. It would be ridiculous to have 50 presidential candidates in the general election. You start with 50 but they get narrowed down to 2. I would personally prefer 3 but not more than that.
You are completely missing the point. Your primary system enforces a two party system. You can only declare yourself as a Republican, Democrat or Independent full stop.
Instead of primaries, other countries elect their party leaders at political conventions. The public "election" is held later which I think is a more sensible system. I also think it is a bit idiotic that state officials are involved in the federal election and that you elect everyone in one big election night.
In Canada, we have separate election schedules for provincial and federal elections, we have multiple parties running and elections are handled by independent non-partisan organizations for the provincial and federal elections. For the Federal election, there is Elections Canada and for the Provincial election, there is an elections . We do not use voting machines but rather a simple paper ballot where you mark and X by the candidate you want to represent your riding.
Jesus was a compassionate social conservative who called individuals to sin no more.