This is an in-depth analysis of Gensler’s Shanghai Tower written and compiled
by the students of Dr. Firas Al-Douri’s AAE 481 Architecture Place and Identity
course at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas during the Spring 2014 semester.
Students discuss the relationship of Shanghai Tower to its immediate context and
whether the design team made the right decisions in reference to the contextual
edge. Sustainable design and construction become the backbones of the Shanghai
Tower as it aims to respect its site and context, work with the climate, minimize
the use of new materials, conserve energy, respect the builder and the end user,
minimize resource consumption and maximize resource reuse, create a non-toxic
environment, and pursue quality in the built environment through holistic design.
In addition students compared Shanghai Tower to precedents that share the same goals
and intentions. Each project’s location, concept, program, and functional requirements
will be discussed and critic