This Amazing Timelapse Video Shows The Construction Of Shanghai Tower

Towering above this city of 24 million people at 2,073 feet. the Shanghai Tower is the tallest building in China and 2nd tallest in the world, only surpassed by the Burj Khalifa in Dubai. Its 128 stories are divided into 9 vertical zones, including retail at the base, offices in the middle, and hotels and observation decks at the top. The super-tall skyscraper features a double-decker elevator that offers the longest single elevator journey in the world at 1,900 feet in under a minute.

Designed by international design firm Gensler and owned by the Shanghai city government, it is the tallest of the world's first triple-adjacent super-tall buildings in Pudong, the other two being the Jin Mao Tower and the Shanghai World Financial Centre. Its tiered construction, designed for high energy efficiency, provides nine separate zones divided between office, retail and leisure use.

Construction work on the tower began in November 2008 and topped out on 3 August 2013. The exterior was completed in summer 2015, and work was considered complete in September 2015.

Although the building was originally scheduled to open to the public in November 2014, the actual public-use date slipped considerably. The observation deck was opened to visitors in July 2016. From April 26, 2017 onwards, the sightseeing deck on the 118th floor is open to the public.

The Shanghai Tower incorporates numerous green architecture elements; its owners received certifications from the China Green Building Committee and the U.S. Green Building Council for the building's sustainable design. In 2013, a Gensler spokesman described the tower as "the greenest super high-rise building on earth at this point in time". The building is designed to capture rainwater for internal use, and to recycle a portion of its wastewater.