GUANGZHOU | Guangzhou Twin Tower West | 1,440 FT / 439 M | 103 FLOORS | T/O
 

There doesn't seem to be a thread here about this one, which kinda surprises me.

East Tower is going to begin once West Tower has topped out, which is going to be early/mid 2009. Site prep and foundation for the East Tower has been completed, so once it starts, it will rise fast.

Renderings:

Source: skyscrapers.cn
http://img502.imageshack.us/img502/6...ght16yj1dy.jpg

http://img395.imageshack.us/img395/3...wers0024pi.jpg

http://img290.imageshack.us/img290/6...ght26mo6ac.jpg

note the open atrium in the steel section
http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1327/...e070666e_b.jpg

Construction pics:

source - skyscrapercity.com

May 13, 2007
http://skyscrapers.cn/forum/attachme...X3dUqiuBtC.jpg

November 12, 2007
http://bbs.home.news.cn/upfiles/02E66102.002C

January 4, 2008
http://www.skyscrapers.cn/forum/atta...BZbOlAn7eB.jpg

Skeleton Detail (The facade will be near transparent, so the skeleton will be completely visible.)
http://www.skyscrapers.cn/forum/atta...3utY7mNcC4.jpg

April 1, 2008
http://www.skyscrapers.cn/forum/atta...TpkTCHBtFM.jpg

April 16, 2008
http://bbs.home.news.cn/upfiles/032DCA8E.002C

May 9, 2008
http://pic.yupoo.com/star520/44552587e7d3/uu2ax3ac.jpg

Facade (Plastic wrap still on?):
http://img48.imageshack.us/img48/658/40038638gy0.jpg

June 21, 2008
http://img57.imageshack.us/img57/8732/86253322fa5.jpg

Like Jin Mao or ICC, the core doesn't reach the top but stops at (or below) level 80.
It seems like, in a way or another, new supertall skyscrapers cheat to reach their top. Spires, fins and wall extensions, hollow sections...

This isn't cheating though, the upper portion will be occupied as a hotel. It will be interesting to watch the atrium go up, since there are few pictures of Jin Mao's construction.

that atrium will look fantastic. and this is no cheating....they don't lift a 300ft beam on the top...

You have to love how all of the support columns and bracing are just lying on the street in this pic....and how far away from the construction site they are staging them. Very cool tower.

Looks like an impressive pair.

Holy shit. Man, the world best get used to hearing a lot about China for the next century or so.

Right.
But the fact that they're so far from each other produces a less impressive effect.

Looking great. That last pic is aweomse. Its crazy to see the street being used like that...

Where are all the cars? There is definately some crazy shit going down in China these days.

that pic is just amazing! the steel laying on the streets just like that...

One (off-topic) comment about the Hyatt building : I don't know what it's like in reality, but, by the photo, it looks like prewar Rockefeller Center.

I like the towers at the top, I am sure the buildings will look nice once completed.

http://item.slide.com/r/1/68/i/hqlm3...dydEYjzhLuNkz/

skyscrapers.cn

^Beautiful!

That's amazing. I absolutely love the shape of these buildings.

Underrated U/C supertalls.

This is one of the top 3 supertalls currently U/C, IMO. Been watching this rise on ssc. I really hope the diagrid structure is expressed through the skin in the final product.

Wilkinson Eyre Push Diagrid To New Heights
 

http://www.skyscrapernews.com/news.php?ref=1586

Wilkinson Eyre Push Diagrid To New Heights
Published on 17-06-2008 by Skyscrapernews.com


Pushing the popular diagrid look to new heights is the Wilkinson Eyre designed West Tower, an under construction supertall skyscraper in the Chinese city of Guangzhou.

Designed to stand at 103 storeys and a maximum height of 438 metres, the $750 million dollar project will be the second tallest building in China although with the rate of supertall skyscrapers being built increasing rapidly around the world it will only be the twelfth tallest in the world once completed. If built now though it would rank as the fourth tallest in the world to roof.

Central to the structure is huge concrete core around which the curved triangular floor plates are ordered offering 448,000 square metres of space in total.

Much of the tower, 69 floors in total, will be offices but there will also an hotel on floors 70 to 98, an observation deck at levels 99 and 100 whilst at ground level will be a massive shopping mall.

The exterior is dominated by the concrete cross-bracing that forms a diagrid running up the tower from top to bottom providing it with impressive structural strength. In front will be glass curtain walling continuing all the way to a façade overrun at the top of the tower that is aimed to create a "crystalline form".

Ambitiously, a second identical tower on the other side of the road West Tower overlooks was also planned but this seems to have been put on hold although those working on the project insist that "harmony" between the two planned towers will remain.

Developer, the Guangzhou Construction Committee, saw work begin on site in January 2006 and aims to complete West Tower sometime in 2010.

I bet that, in the end, it won't be a real twin. Just another, different tower.