Shanghaied Bob: Shanghai World Financial Center (SWFC)

This is the second in a three part post about the 3 tallest buildings in China. All located in Shanghai's Lujiazui district in Pudong, the buildings are known as the Three Brothers. The first post is about the Jin Mao Tower the smallest of the three, at 88 floors, completed in 1988. This post is about the SWFC which is currently the tallest building in China and the third post will be about the Shanghai Tower which will replace the SWFC as the tallest building in China, to be completed in 2014. Please see post dated Aug 1 2012, titled The tall buildings, in 3rd place

The SWFC was completed in August 2008 and stands at 1614 feet high. At 101 stores, it is a multi-use skyscraper featuring offices, hotels, restaurants, conference rooms, a museum, observation decks, and shopping malls. When opened is was the 2nd highest building in the world and the tallest in China, it now is the 4 highest building in the world.

It was designed by an American architectural firm and built by a Japanese company. There were several interruptions in the building of the SWFC which started in 1997. Construction was stopped for 5 years after the foundation was completed because of the Asian Financial crisis. Then there was a change in developers before work started again in 2003 and near its completion a fire broke out on the 40th floor.

The most distinctive feature in the design of the building is the trapezoid opening at the top. It was said that the original design was to be a circle at the top, per Chinese mythology the shape of the building, which is square, represented the earth and the circle represented the heavens. The opening was also to reduce the stress of wind pressure on the building. This design began facing protests from the Chinese who considered it resembling Japan's rising sun on the Japanese flag. Finally the design was changed to the trapezoid. This lead to the buildings nickname which is now referred to as The Bottle Opener. Replicas of the building that function as a bottle opener are now sold in the observation deck gift shop.

I must have over a 100+ pictures of the 3 buildings from every angle, distance and time of day. They define the skyline of Shanghai and for me I never get tired of looking up at the buildings. I have yet to go to the observation deck on the 100th floor, it features a glass floor. I really think I am a little nervous.