Construction stalled on 'world's tallest building', so locals made its foundation into a fish farm

2015-07-14T13:39:00-04:00

work stalled after concerns from regulators over the safety of the skyscraper and its environmental impact and funding. With no progress on the project in sight, villagers nearby have started to raise fish in its 2.6-hectare water-filled foundations [...] One villager started to raise fish in March and has invested over 20,000 yuan in his business. “I raise fish on the construction site. It is not in secret, neither have I ever been stopped”

Construction on the would-be world's tallest building, known as Sky City in Changsha, China, began in 2013, under leadership of Broad Sustainable Building. Sky City made headlines not only for its proposed record-breaking height, but for the speed at which it was to be completed – Broad Sustainable Building promised that using a signature method of pre-fabrication techniques, Sky City would be built in just nine months. Now way past that due date, Sky City's vacant foundations have been repurposed by local villagers as a fish farm.

Broad Sustainable Building, part of The Broad Group, is known for pushing tall, rapidly built structures in China – it previously built a 30-story hotel in 15 days, and "Mini Sky City", a 57-story tower built in 19 days. More about The Broad Group's prefabrication techniques can be found here and here.

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:

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Construction stalled on 'world's tallest building', so locals made its foundation into a fish farm

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