How does the tower 450 meters taller not collapse?

Construction began in November last year, Chengdu tower will be 469 meters high when completed in 2018 and is the fourth tallest building in China.

The secret to help the tower 450 meters high does not collapse

Not only using reinforced concrete like many other modern skyscrapers, Chengdu Tower also has an extra frame, a bearing structure built around the building.

Chengdu Tower will be 469 meters high when completed when completed in 2018. (Photo: Adrian Smith / Gorden Gill Architecture.)

External frame technology provides an innovative solution for high-rise building engineers. It helps them solve the challenge: how to reduce construction costs, while keeping the designer's perspective.

To save costs, engineers always try to use the material as low as possible while keeping the building safe. After many years, science has helped develop better materials such as steel and bearing cement. However, the design of the outer frame is a matter that requires the cooperation of architects and engineers to create a structure that is both economically efficient and beautiful.

" The ideal goal is an external structure that reflects the shape of the building, just like they are bound together," said Fei Xu, an architect in the Chengdu tower project.

Triangular triangulation sheets intersect along the building faces.(Photo: Adrian Smith / Gordon Gill Architecture.)

The principle of building construction is basically very simple. The outer frame is mainly made up of solid two-dimensional (2D) triangular plates . Dennis Poon, Chengdu structural engineer engineer, said: "You need to build a large X-frame for the building. That structure is very effective using the entire width of the building to support the wind. . "

The outer frame of Chengdu Tower is much more complicated than the conventional X-frame. Because Chengdu is cloudy, designers want the tower to turn to different directions to better reflect natural light.

Unlike the previous buildings, each adjacent triangle in the outer frame of Chengdu is located on a different plane. The triangular plate intertwined along the sides of the building, causing the whole tower to twist into the air.

In addition to bearing the building, the 3D exterior frame also makes Chengdu tower look more beautiful than the flat 2D version. "It makes the whole building more transparent, allowing you to have a better view from the inside," Xu said.