Figure 26: Structural system of Shanghai tower

atrium, where a chimney effect allows the heat to escape. Additionally, the aerodynamics of the spiral shape significantly reduce the wind load on the building, allowing designers to use about one-third less structural steel than in a conventional building. The glass façade minimizes energy consumption. Some of the building’s parapets are designed to collect rainwater, used for tower’s heating and AC systems. Shanghai Tower has two chiller plants, strategically located, in the building reducing energy required to pump chilled water. The project features water treatment plants that recycle grey water and storm water for irrigation and flushing. Further, the domestic water system utilizes interim water storage tanks within the tower, allowing the water pressure to be maintained by gravity. Low pressure pumping energy is utilized only to transport the water to each tank in a cascading arrangement, resulting in a 38% source water consumption reduction.

3.2.6 Structural System:

To carry the load of the transparent glass skin, an innovative curtain wall has been designed which is suspended from the mechanical floors above and stabilized by a system of hoop rings and struts. The laminated glass panels filter the sun, wind and rain, while the inner skin encloses the interior space with a unitized low-E coated insulating glass curtain wall system with integral operable solar control devices. This double skin wall system takes advantage of the stack effect to provide natural ventilation and cooling. The buffer areas between the inner and outer skins help to regulate the environment as well as collect and recycle rain water.

The Tower design features four pairs of super columns organized as nine cylindrical buildings stacked one atop another. The building comprises nine

Figure 26: Structural system of Shanghai tower Source: (Zhou, 2019)