Shanghai Tower Officially Named as World's Second-Tallest Building After Completion

The completion of the Shanghai Tower by architecture firm Gensler marks an important milestone in China's history as it is named as China's tallest building and the second-tallest building in the world.

With a height of 632-metre, the skyscraper is taller than the previous title holder which is the Makkah Royal Clock Tower in Mecca. The building is located in Shanghai's burgeoning Lujiazui financial district.

It becomes part of the city's super-highrise precinct which is situated on a bend of the Huangpu River just opposite downtown Shanghai. Near the tower is the 421-metre-high, pagoda-shaped Jin Mao Tower by SOM, and the 492-metre-high Shanghai World Financial Center by Kohn Pedersen Fox.

But the Shanghai Tower only falls second to the tallest building on the globe which is the Burj Khalifa in Dubai that is 828 meters tall.

The building is comprised of 121 storeys and is divided into nine vertical zones which include "shops at the base, offices in the centre, and hotels, cultural facilities and observation decks at the top," Dezeen wrote.

Every zone in the building is organized around one of its many "sky lobbies" which are plant-filled atriums that is flooded with natural light since its design is intended for social gatherings and mimics the look of a plaza.

The tower is a result of a six-year-long construction which ended in 2015. Its completion also marked its official entry to the top 10 tallest buildings as ranked and assessed by the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat (CTBUH).

It is designed by Gensler featuring a curved and twisted form which was generated by doing a series of wind-tunnel tests. This feature is expected to reduce wind load during typhoons by 24 per cent. This design also made the building economical since it reduced the materials needed, Shanghaiist reported. It also added that the tower is worth $2.4 billion and has saved around $58 million because of the design of Gensler.