Guangzhou Circle

Guangzhou Circle is a 33-story office building, about 138 m tall, on the bank of the Pearl River in Guangzhou, China. It looks like a giant golden disc standing on its edge with a huge hole in the middle. It is said to be the tallest circular building in the world.

The Italian architect Joseph di Pasquale designed it after winning a competition in 2009, and the building was finished in 2013. It is the headquarters of the Hongda Xingye Group and the Guangdong Plastic Exchange, a big trading center for plastic materials. Its picture often appears in posters and ads for the city.

The ring and the jade disc

Di Pasquale wanted a design based on Chinese ideas and symbols. The ring shape recalls an ancient round jade disc with a hole called a bi, which was used in ceremonies about 2,000 years ago.

The building covers about 85,000 square meters and cost roughly one billion yuan to build. The architect wanted a landmark that people would at once see as Chinese, so he chose a closed, central shape instead of a typical Western skyscraper.

A famous landmark

Unlike a similar round building in Shenyang, the hollow center here is left open, with no glass. People say that its reflection in the river combines with the ring to make the lucky number 8.

In 2014 CNN listed it among the ten most interesting buildings in the world, and its image has been used on many posters and ads for Guangzhou. Some critics still think it is one of China's strangest buildings.

On the globe

The model shows a golden disc standing on edge with a big hole through its middle, beside the river.