The Wuhan Greenland Center skyscraper will be erected in five years in Wuhan, near the confluence of the Yangtze and Han Rivers. Construction should begin this summer, and by the time it is completed, the tower will most likely become the 3rd tallest in the PRC and the 4th tallest in the world. This fits well into the picture of the ongoing Chinese construction boom: according to the national web portal Motiancity.com, in the next three years, a new skyscraper will be handed over every five days (!). Currently under construction are more than 200 buildings over 150 meters high, which is equal to the total number of high-rise buildings in the United States. By 2016, China may have about 800 such structures. At the same time, there is a problem of insufficient demand: it is not easy to fill a skyscraper with tenants in a normal financial climate, but now the country may approach a collapse in the market with each such expensive and difficult project for recoupment.
However, Adrian Smith and the Greenland Group developers are optimistic. The 119-storey tower is planned to have 300 thousand m2 of offices, 50 thousand m2 of elite housing, 45 thousand m2 of 5-star hotel rooms, and at the very top - a closed club with an area of 5000 m2 and a ceiling height of 27 m.
The plan view of the tower is a triangle with rounded corners, which is a successful and therefore popular configuration from an aerodynamic point of view (this shape also allows significant material savings). Corner "ribs" protrude from its volume and are covered with smooth glass panels. The facades themselves will receive a more “textured” solution. Hidden behind their curtain wall is a composite concrete core and steel frame. Regularly spaced large openings in the curtain wall will help to cope with high winds, and will also contain window cleaning and ventilation systems for technical floors.
Among the “green” elements of the project is general ventilation with an “energy recovery” system (enthalpy wheel), where the exhaust air will prepare for use fresh, only getting inside: in summer, outgoing, cool and dry air will lower the temperature and humidity of the incoming outdoor air before the main ones. drying "and cooling, in winter - vice versa. There are also systems for saving electricity when lighting, using "gray" water, etc.
The rivals of the Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill Architecture workshop in the competition were the American bureaus SOM (Smith's former employer) and HOK, the Germans gmp and P&T Architects from Hong Kong.
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