‘Rapid Chinese Construction’
How long do you think it would take to build a 57 storey building? 6 months, 1 year or 18 months? A Chinese construction company claims it has accomplished this herculean task in just 19 days.
The glass and steel Mini Sky City has been erected in the Hunan provincial capital of Changsha. The time-lapse video showing the construction of the building has gone viral on Chinese social media.
Broad Sustainable Building, a prefab construction firm, says it has managed to achieve this using an innovative modular method. While a traditional method builds a skyscraper brick by brick, the company’s engineer Chen Xiangqian claims their method had to only assemble the blocks.
Modular method is not a new concept but has been used for multi-storey buildings in the UK and Australia. Besides being time efficient, modular method of construction is also known to be environment friendly.
The architect behind this rapid construction, Xian Min Zhang, has a considerable portfolio and understands the issues surrounding China’s urban migration.
Mini Sky City has 19 atriums, 800 apartments and office space, which can accommodate 4000 people. The company also has the ambition to build the world’s tallest skyscraper at 220 floors in only three months. Mr Zhang famously said back in 2012 “we need to create an infrastructure change”. If his projects continue to be erected at this rate, Mr Zhang and China will be well on their way to completing innovative architect’s mission.
Images via www.theguardian.com & www.cbc.ca
