ENQUIRE

ONE BUILDING, ONE CITY: PREFAB GOES SKY HIGH

The future of buildings going green is looking up – if the latest development from Broad Sustainable Building Group is anything to go by. The Chinese prefabricator, originally known for producing air conditioning units, is taking modular prefab to new heights, with their ambitious plans to construct a 220 storey skyscraper in 90 days breaking ground this month. Aptly named Sky City, the project is a vision of sustainability that has had the architecture and construction industries talking . . .

The prefab building was designed as a solution to accommodate China’s growing population minus the impact on the environment. With a building footprint of only 10% of the site, the Sky City concept reduces the per capita use of land and allows the hundreds of surrounding acres to be preserved as parkland. Once completed, this vertical city will provide over one million square metres of commercial, residential, educational and medical spaces.

Rather than drive to work, residents can use one of the 92 elevators in the building or the six mile long ramp that runs from the 1st floor to the 170th. Sky City will not only be the world’s tallest building, at 838 metres high, but also one of the most energy efficient, thanks to a prefab building system that uses 200mm thick insulated panels. In addition, all windows are triple glazed with exterior shading that cuts cooling requirements by 30%, and what heating and cooling is required is sourced from a co-generation recycling plant. The building is also designed to be earthquake resistant to a magnitude of 9.0, and have a 3-hour fire resistance rating.

To think that a skyscraper could be built in such a short time frame might seem an impossible feat, but to us it represents the innovative and sustainable future of building.

2021-04-14T14:51:26+10:00 June 27th, 2013|All, Architecture|

RELATED ARTICLES