China Building World’s Tallest Skyscraper

The twin towers that will measure 1000 meters tall when completed in Wuhan China Photo: Chetwoods Architects

While the mile high club may still be a jet-bound venture, residents of and visitors to Wuhan, a city in central China, will be able to join the kilometer high club while still connected to land. When completed, the taller of the two so-called Phoenix Towers will measure a full 1000 meters (3280 ft) tall. That will make it the world’s tallest skyscraper, nearly 20 percent taller than the Burj Khalifa in Dubai.

As first reported by British magazine Dezeen, the towers are designed by British architecture and design studio, Chetwoods, and are intended to represent a male and a female phoenix. It’s estimated that they will take around three years to build and cost £1.2 billion ($2.04 billion).

Surprisingly, height isn’t their most unique element, however. The entire structure has been designed to combat pervasive water and air pollution in Wuhan, Hubei province’s capital. The “male” tower features filtration that will purify and recirculate water from the lake that surrounds the 47-acre site on which the pair is to be built.

The towers will generate much of their energy needs through biomass regeneration boilers, wind turbines, and solar panels located across their surfaces.

The Phoenix Towers will also actively filter the existing air surrounding them with advanced filtration equipment in their upper reaches. In a country plagued by poor air quality, Wuhan ranks among the China’s worst offenders. That has led officials to commit to a 20 percent reduction in particulate matter over the next five years. The exact amount to which these two towers could contribute remains to be seen.


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