Singapore’s CapitaLand is building a 300m long ‘horizontal skyscraper ‘ as part of its $4.75 billion Raffles City Chongqing development in China.
The curved accordion-shaped element will sit above four 250m-tall towers at a total height of more than 400m above sea level.
Raffles City Chongqing now holds the world’s record as the development with the highest sky bridge linking the most number of towers.
“Raffles City Chongqing is by far the largest and most complex integrated development that CapitaLand has undertaken,” president and group CEO Lim Ming Yan said.
“Erecting The Conservatory marks the culmination of five years of construction progress and a grand milestone in outlining Raffles City Chongqing’s image of a powerful sail surging forward, as it prepares to welcome the world in 2019.
“The hoisting of The Conservatory is not only a significant moment for Raffles City Chongqing, it marks a global milestone in the field of architecture and engineering.
“Some of the world’s most advanced construction and engineering techniques have been deployed to install this megastructure on Chaotianmen, known as the crown jewel of Chongqing. CapitaLand is proud to have achieved this phenomenal structural engineering breakthrough of connecting skyscrapers, and we will continue to stay ahead of the curve by breaking new grounds in real estate development.”
Raffles City Chongqing broke ground in September 2012 and five towers have successfully topped out since, including a 350m skyscraper which holds the record as China’s tallest residential tower.
The site’s conditions include exposure to strong winds, so a wind modelling test was conducted on the horizontal element known as The Conservatory, together with the other eight towers that will form the completed complex.
Building Information Modelling (BIM) technology was also used to coordinate the complex structural and utilities layout of The Conservatory.
The support system for The Conservatory’s structure uses advanced frictional pendulum bearings and seismic dampers mounted on the towers.
CapitaLand said this would dissipate seismic and wind energy more effectively than the conventional rigidity-driven design, and represented a breakthrough in the structural engineering of linked high-rise building clusters.
The Conservatory is made up of a continuous steel structure weighing 12,000 tons, and enclosed with a ring comprising 3200 pieces of glass and 4800 aluminium panels.
It includes four segments built in-situ above the four towers; three middle segments prefabricated on ground and hoisted into place by hydraulic strand jacks; and two cantilever segments assembled in short sections from the two ends of the rightmost and leftmost towers.
The Conservatory’s steel structure is targeted to be fully erected by mid-2018, which will be followed by the hoisting of the façade enclosure together with gigantic trees and plants for the sky gardens.
The hoisting process for the steel structure made national news in China when it began in December.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pNW3xMA5tpE
