Plaza 66
Shanghai’s Plaza 66 consists of two towers atop a five-story, high-end shopping mall on Nanjing Road, one of the city’s most popular shopping areas.
Going Tall with a Small Footprint
Shanghai’s Plaza 66 consists of two towers atop a five-story, high-end shopping mall on Nanjing Road, one of the city’s most popular shopping areas. The complex derives its name from the first of its two towers that tops out at 66 floors.
We provided structural design to KPF for this 213,729 square-meter project, which was completed in 2006.
Highlights
- A special feature of the first tower is its great height despite a small footprint. The concrete tower soars 288 meters (945 feet) above the city featuring a narrow irregular-shaped lantern on the rooftop.
- One of the challenges with the concrete work was the oval-shaped atrium roof design - approximately 200 feet by 125 feet - that covers the seven-story atrium in the retail podium.
- The roof’s cross sections vary along the span, as do the cross sections of its supporting columns, resulting in a visually dynamic but technically challenging atrium.
- The 48-story concrete second tower is approximately 228 meter (749 feet) and is also built on a small footprint. Lateral stability concerns, poor site soil, seismic considerations and a high water table complicated the second tower’s design.
- The conventional concrete frame-shear core wall lateral support system and deep mat with long friction piles were used to produce a functional building economically.