Jin Mao Tower

The Jin Mao Tower, at 88 Century Avenue in Lujiazui, is an office and hotel tower of 88 floors and 420.5 metres, counting its spire. It is the oldest of the three tall towers in this cluster, and its stepped outline echoes the tiers of a Chinese pagoda.

Skidmore, Owings & Merrill of Chicago designed it, with Adrian Smith as the designer. Construction began in 1994, and Chinese Wikipedia gives the date as 10 May. The structure was topped out on 28 August 1997. The opening date is reported differently: Chinese Wikipedia says the tower opened for business on 18 March 1999, while English Wikipedia says it was fully operational in 1999 and mentions a dedication on 28 August 1998. A Shanghai list gives 1998 as the completion year.

The number 8, associated with prosperity in Chinese culture, shapes the design. According to English Wikipedia, the 88 floors are divided into 16 segments, and the tower has 8 exterior supercolumns and 8 steel columns.

The Grand Hyatt Shanghai occupies floors 53 to 87, arranged around an atrium. The 88th floor holds an observation deck at about 340 metres, covering 1,520 square metres. The deck is ticketed; the operator’s site could not be read here, so check it for current hours and prices.

The tower was the tallest in Shanghai until the Shanghai World Financial Center overtook it in 2007, and Chinese Wikipedia adds that it was the tallest in China when completed. It was listed in the first batch of China’s 20th-century architectural heritage on 29 September 2016.