Ground breaking ceremony marks start of construction on Chinese TV tower designed by Arup and IBA.
Work has started in China on what will be the world’s tallest TV tower. The tower in the City of Guangzhou and has been designed by Information Based Architecture and Arup.
The 610-high TV tower features a 17.9ha park at its base and also an elevated plaza, pagoda-park, retail facilities, offices, television centre and hotel.
The interior of the tower will feature TV and radio transmission facilities, observatory decks, revolving restaurants, computer gaming, restaurants, exhibition spaces, conference rooms, shops and 4D cinemas.
The “waist” of the tower features a 180m open-air skywalk and there will be gardens at the top of the tower.
Arup’s design team leader, Tony Choi, said, “ The complex geometry and the slim waist of the tower makes it a very challenging structural design for Arup in the process of striking balance between architectural form, safety and cost.
“Performance-based approaches have been adopted to achieve breakthrough on the local regulations on planning, fire escape and structural design issues.”
The TV Tower will be completed in time for the 2010 Asian Games which Guangzhou is hosting.
