Karl Smith loves to do posts touting the latest breakthroughs in fracking or solar panel technology. So I thought I’d try one of those, for modular construction.
I’ve been waiting for the famous Changsha mega-structure to actually get underway, but I can’t wait any longer. Otherwise Tyler might scoop me. In any case it does have a OK to go forward in August:
Architects and record-keepers had been waiting for months to learn the status of Broad Group’s “Sky City,” a 220-story skyscraper that was supposed to be built in just 90 days this winter in the Chinese city of Changsha. Thirty feet higher than the Burj Khalifa and constructed of pre-fab modules, the prospective tower languished in government-approval limbo.
The wait is over: the title of world’s tallest building really will be transferred from oil-rich Dubai to this mid-sized provincial Chinese city. Last week, Broad Group announced it has received approval from the Chinese government and will break ground on the project in August, though according to Quartz‘s Lily Kuo, Broad Sustainable Building has pushed the building’s schedule to a more modest seven months.
That pace will make for less flashy headlines, but with more than a completed floor per day, Sky City will still be a historic construction project. More importantly, this titanic arcology will cost $140 per square foot to build, one-tenth the price of construction on the Burj Khalifa.
These innovations in speed and cost are thanks entirely to Broad Group’s pioneering use of modular construction. In 2011, BG’s subsidiary Broad Sustainable Building caused an Internet sensation with this timelapse video of a 30-story hotel built in just 15 days, its factory-prepared components slotted together like giant tinker-toys. (It’s since been viewed over 5 million times.) BSB’s hotel is still the world’s tallest modular building, but the technology is spreading. A 32-story competitor is rising in Brooklyn, a 29-story imitator in London.
The implications for the future of construction, architecture and urban planning are huge. Less labor will be required, and many workers will move from the site to the factory. Architects could find their visions curbed by factory specifications. Developers and governments may also find that housing is cheaper, easier and faster to build.
With Sky City, BSB has the opportunity to prove modular construction’s potential. The building’s 30,000 residents will be carried in 92 elevators to 4 helipads and amenities like schools and stores.* Segments of the building were being manufactured even before the Chinese government had issued its approval.
When I was young, almost all of the 20 tallest buildings in the world were in America (basically New York and Chicago.) By 2020 19 out of 20 will be in Asia, and the only exception (the Freedom Tower) gets there by “cheating,” with a tall spire on top.
BTW, This is being built in a rural area outside Changsha. In American terms that would be like building the world’s biggest mega-structure in a rural area outside of Memphis, Tennessee.
But it’s not a bubble!
PS. Most people are Asian, so I often use the terms ‘global economy’ and ‘Asian economy’ interchangeably. I see that the Europeans are still resisting the coming onslaught of “gee-whiz” architecture.