Archinect - News

Fire erupts in a 42-story skyscraper in Changsha, China

2022-09-16T17:14:00-04:00

A skyscraper in the central Chinese city of Changsha was seriously damaged after a fire engulfed the 42-storey building. The fire in the China Telecom building was reported at 3.48pm. Thirty-six fire engines and 280 firefighters from 17 stations were sent to the blaze, according to the Hunan Fire Department. By 5pm the fire had been extinguished but firefighters continued rescue efforts.

Frightening videos are circulating on social media and appear to show the 22-year-old building almost completely burnt through its facade, although the extent of internal structural damage is not clear. It is also unknown what caused the fire, but the incident should highlight the safety concerns inherent in China’s recent decision to ban all construction of any structure totaling more than 500 meters (1,640 feet) in height following decades of unfettered tall building.

Although it opened as the city's record-holder, the 160-meter (525-foot) tall structure is now only the 46th tallest in Changsha, according to the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat.

China-Telecom building in Changsha burns to the ground in 20 mins. pic.twitter.com/Xbrn73WAFw
— Dave (@davecoughlan80) September 16, 2022

No fatalities have been reported, although some initial sources indicated concern that deaths from the incident could have numbered in the hundreds.

HENN’s massive new Zoomlion headquarters breaks ground in China

2022-05-19T12:29:00-04:00

The latest in a lineage of corporate headquarters designs that dates to 1965 is officially underway in China’s Hunan Province, the product of a multi-year collaboration between HENN and the heavy manufacturing giant Zoomlion.

The Z-shaped design includes a museum, data center, and even sports facilities for workers of new the 311,000-square-meter (3.34-million-square-foot) industrial park. Project leader Hua Qiao described its form as an “immense, cut stone floating above its natural surroundings.”

Once realized in 2023, the Zoomlion headquarters will eventually join HENN's Zalando BHQ-Z project that recently topped out in Berlin in its growing portfolio of major corporate designs.

Image courtesy HENN

Per the architects, the new park “balances the client’s production needs with a sensitivity to its rural context, the geometric Headquarters blends into the hilly and densely wooded Changsha green-corridor. Made from white concrete, the classic ar...

China's record-breaking glass bridge already closed again after two weeks

2016-09-13T14:40:00-04:00

A glass-bottomed bridge in China that was heralded as a record-breaker when it opened just 13 days ago has closed. Officials said the government was planning urgent maintenance work in the area and the bridge closed on Friday, with a re-opening time to be announced. [...] He said there had been no accidents and the bridge was not cracked or broken. [...] The bridge can accommodate 8,000 visitors a day but the spokesman told CNN that 10 times as many people wanted access daily.

Yibada reports that the bridge upgrades were going as scheduled and that the attraction was set to re-open to the public this week.

Previously in the Archinect news:

World's longest and highest glass bridge opens in China

2016-08-25T13:55:00-04:00

It's touted as the "world's highest and longest" glass-bottom bridge, elegantly stretched between two mountain peaks in central China's Hunan province. And as of this weekend, it's open to visitors. Now, one can walk the 470-yard length of the glass bridge, which is positioned a vertigo-inducing 328 yards above the ground, as China's state-run news agency Xinhua reported. The bridge is located in the Zhangjiajie National Forest [...].

China opens 590-foot-high glass-bottom bridge

2015-09-28T13:28:00-04:00

The recently completed span is a glass walkway suspended a stomach-flipping 180 meters (590 feet) above a sheer drop in China's central Hunan Province. Haohan Qiao, as it's known in Chinese, is the latest in a series of glass-floored attractions to open in China and the rest of the world. Each of the glass panes is 24 millimeters thick and 25 times stronger than normal glass. Hunan is due to open another glass bridge later this year in the Zhangjiajie Grand Canyon area [...].

Previously: China announces world's longest and highest glass bridge

How the "Chinese Steve Jobs" is trying to build the ideal city

2015-06-16T13:30:00-04:00

He has a vision of a future where his company makes a third of the world's buildings – all modular, all steel, and all green. “The biggest problem we face in the world right now isn't terrorism or world war. It's climate change,” he says.

A fascinating profile of Zhang Yue, the man behind Mini Sky City, a 57-story tower built in 19 days. Yue's company, the Broad Sustainable Group, was able to construct at such speeds by assembling prefab parts at the rate of 3-storeys a day. Now, Yue's set his sights on on building the full-size Sky City – a 220-story tower where residents would live and work – in seven months. That height would make it taller than Dubai's Burj Khalifa, currently the world's tallest building.

Watch a timelapse of the Mini Sky City building process below:

China announces world's longest and highest glass bridge

2015-05-26T19:03:00-04:00

Zhangjiajie, a scenic national park in the country's Hunan province, is set to open the world's longest and highest glass-bottomed bridge in July. Spanning two cliffs in the Zhangjiajie Grand Canyon area, it will stretch 430 meters (1,410 feet) long and 6 meters (20 feet) wide, hovering over a 300-meter (984-foot) vertical drop. In comparison, the Grand Canyon Skywalk in the United States is 21 meters (69 feet) in length and stands 219 meters (718 feet) above the canyon floor.

UPDATE: World's longest and highest glass bridge opens in China

Chinese prefab company builds a 57-story skyscraper in just 19 days

2015-04-30T14:07:00-04:00

A Chinese construction company is claiming to be the world’s fastest builder after erecting a 57-storey skyscraper in 19 working days in central China. Broad Sustainable Building, a prefab construction firm, put up the rectangular, glass and steel Mini Sky City in the Hunan provincial capital of Changsha, assembling three floors a day using a modular method [...]. The company now has ambitions to assemble the world’s tallest skyscraper, at 220 floors, in only three months.

NEXT wins international bridge competition for Meixi Lake near Changsha capital in China

2013-11-06T18:01:00-05:00

NEXT architects from Amsterdam and Beijing recently won first place in a bridge design competition for Meixi Lake near the Changsha capital in Hunan, China. The new bridge is a major part of a development project for the new Dragon King Harbor River district.