"High, Big, New, Challenging"
A parable about tall buildings
Slip-form concrete technique is nothing new these days but in the early 1980s in China it was cutting edge and a very big deal. Imagine two narrow moulds acting as metal sleeves into which you keep pouring fresh concrete. As the concrete at the bottom hardens, the hydraulic jack system keeps moving up very slowly. Steel reinforcement is added into the sleeve as you go up with concrete then poured over it. With a steady mix of concrete and crew of workers, builders can climb non-stop, metre after metre, without dismantling forms each day. Continuous pouring eliminates weak joints, and the moving platform keeps the entire team working safely in sync.
Number go up
The 50 storeys of the Guomao Building were built in just 37 months between 1982 and 1985, an unprecedented pace in China which gave birth to the nickname “Shenzhen Speed.” In full flow, workers were adding a new storey every 3 days (they actually did it in 2.5 days but decided to round up so as to not spook the public into worrying about lower quality arising from moving too fast). China’s mantra then was “time is money, efficiency is life,” and the Guomao site turned that slogan into concrete reality.
The manager of China Third Construction Bureau - which abandoned another contract elsewhere to focus on Guomao - believed that the construction would be a “high, big, new, challenging” landmark worthy of Shenzhen and its special economic zone status at the time. They had initially only won the contract for the basement but they completed the foundation work ahead of schedule and were then handed the contract for the main tower as well. They then proposed the use of the slip-form concrete technique for the construction, something that had not been used in China for a construction of that size up until that point. It was a very bold and risky bet and it did not go to plan.
They started using the slip-form technique from the 5th floor and it was a disaster. On three consecutive trials, walls cracked and partially collapsed. After the third failure, morale was on the floor and everyone was in a panic. The lead engineer on the project, one Yu Feixiong, then declared “if we fail again, I’m willing to go to jail.” The Vice-Mayor of Shenzhen then personally, and remarkably, intervened in the project asking them to give the slip-form technique another try because if they went back to old methods “we will never progress.” And so in September 1983, the team tried the technique a fourth time and it finally worked: they reached the 7th floor and never looked back. Starting with 7 days per floor, they accelerated to 5, then 4, then hit their rhythm - 3 days per floor by the 19th story. 1
As you might imagine, the fact that what became China's tallest building in 1985 had been built using cutting-edge technology inspired a legend of its own. It proved that Chinese people could master new technology and deploy it visibly for all to see. The story spread across the country, adding to the legend of Shenzhen as a place where anything could happen. Young labourers who had gone to Shenzhen to work on the building took the stories back with them to their villages. One farmer who became a builder on the project said that as the structure climbed above all the other buildings around it, the workers cheered: "As we rose past the nearby mall, we got excited. Then we made it even taller, and we could see Hong Kong behind the mountains." This farmer-turned-builder, Wang Shungao, also met a woman on the construction site and fell in love with her beneath the scaffolding. They went on to marry and made Shenzhen their home. "This project carried the hopes of people around the country," he said proudly. Their daughter would later be inspired by her parents to go into the construction industry herself.2
The building had a restaurant on the 49th floor and a helipad on the roof when it finally opened in late 1985 and in January 1986, Deng Xiaoping, China’s paramount ruler at the time, sent a telegram to Shenzhen congratulating it on achieving “Shenzhen Speed”. A few years later during his historic 1992 Southern Tour, Deng made sure to stop at the Guomao Building where he stood on the building’s observation deck and marvelled at the progress that the city had made. Given the politics and intrigue surrounding the Southern Tour, this effectively cemented (see what I did there?) Guomao’s status as a monument to the Reform and Opening Up era.
A few days ago, a friend asked in a WhatsApp group for anyone to guess what the tallest building in Nigeria is. The answer didn’t take long in coming - NECOM House in Lagos Island. This was what triggered (or inspired this post). NECOM was completed in 1979 and was the tallest building in West Africa at the time with its 160 metres and 32 floors. Put another way - the tallest building in Nigeria has not changed at all in my lifetime (a couple of months ago, the construction of the new First Bank building was flagged off and whenever it is completed, it will become the tallest building in Nigeria with 40 floors).
Since the Guomao was completed in China in 1985, its 160 metres height has been exceeded on the following occasions:
1987 - Shenzhen Development Centre - 165 metres.
1989 - Jing Guang Centre, Beijing - 208 metres
1996 - King Tower Shanghai - 212 metres
1996 - Shun Hing Square Shenzhen - 384 metres
1996 - CITIC Plaza Guangzhou - 390 metres
1999 - Jin Mao Tower Shanghai - 421 metres
2008 - Shanghai World Financial Centre - 492 metres (I went up to the 90th floor of this building in 2012 and it was one of the most dazzling experiences of my life)
2015 - Shanghai Tower - 632 metres
What dreams are possible
Yes, skyscrapers are problematic as a proxy for economic progress - tall buildings often go up just before an economic crash and they can be a monument to waste. But I'm once again going to ask a question that bugs me all the time - how is it possible for a child who has grown up in a country where the built environment has barely changed in his lifetime to see the world the same way as a child who has grown up in the shadow of constant monuments to the mastery of new technologies?
What the eye does not see, the heart does not dream about.
>What the eye does not see, the heart does not dream about.
Well with the internet, the eyes is no more constrained to physical environments.
I've been thinking around this lately. We need more role models. Not just persons, projects, companies, stories, development models.... that truly inspire. Not a forced inspiration. One that people look too and without compulsion, are inspired.
Bold, audacious, pace-setting.
The economy and prevalent political atmosphere may suggest that the 'wise' approach is to adopt modesty, heads-down, simplicity and to do what has been shown to work with the country... however, as you alluded to in this beautiful piece, we will not progress if we don't leave old methods behind.
We must find the means and courage to do great things regardless of prevalent 'seeming limitations'
The beautiful things, not every bold, pace-setting idea has to be costly, at least, not at the start.