Greenland Breaks Ground on 486 Metre Ice Tower in Chengdu

Shanghai’s Greenland Group, which has made a name for itself in recent years by being one of China’s most aggressive overseas investors, has brought that same “Invest first. Ask questions later,” approach to Chengdu, by starting work on southwest China’s tallest building.

According to a recent statement by the building’s designers, ground has been broken for the Greenland Tower Chengdu, a 468-meter-high crystalline skyscraper in Chengdu, China, designed by Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill Architecture.

When built, the new skyscraper will be the tallest building in southwestern China, surpassing Chengdu’s current tallest buildings by more than 200 meters. The Shanghai Tower, which is due for completion next year, is China’s tallest building, and the second tallest i the world at 632 metres.

In a statement, the designers from Smith + Gill said that the multi-faceted glass tower was inspired by “the unique ice mountain topography around Chengdu.” The design even goes one up on the region’s natural scenery by incorporating inset LED lighting on the edges of the structure’s faceted glass to give viewers the impression of a shimmering glacier.

The 100 storey project is due to be completed in 2018, and will include a main tower, two smaller towers, and a six-story podium. The complex will incorporate office, retail and residential space to form an integrated community, according to the designers.

In addition to the people-friendly aspects of the design, Smith + Gill indicated that the Greenland Tower Chengdu will include a high-performance damper bracing system to ensure the structure’s stability and efficiency.

In 2008 Chengdu suffered serious damage from the Wenchuan earthquake, which altogether left 69,197 confirmed dead, including 68,636 in Sichuan province, and 374,176 injured, with 18,222 listed as missing.