Guangzhou International Finance Center

The Guangzhou International Finance Center, also called the Guangzhou West Tower, is a 103-story skyscraper in the Tianhe District of Guangzhou, China. It is about 438.6 m tall and was completed in 2010, when it ranked as the 24th tallest building in the world. It is the west half of the Guangzhou Twin Towers.

WilkinsonEyre designed it. Its outside is a steel crisscross frame called a diagrid, and as of 2023 it was the world's tallest building with a helipad on its roof, at 438 m. The tower is used as offices, a hotel and a conference center. At the time it was finished, it was the tallest building in Guangzhou.

What is inside

Floors 1 to 66 are offices, and floors 67 and 68 hold machines. The Four Seasons Hotel fills floors 69 to 98, with its lobby on the 70th floor. The top two floors, 99 and 100, are an observation deck.

Construction began in December 2005, and the building won the 2012 Lubetkin Prize from the Royal Institute of British Architects.

Strong and clever structure

A diagrid uses repeated diagonal beams. Because wind pushes and pulls on the diamond shapes, they resist strong winds, typhoons and earthquakes well. The tower is one of seven landmarks planned for Zhujiang New Town.

A planned "East Tower" at 475 m was never built; the Guangzhou CTF Finance Centre, at 530 m, took its place. Its design idea was called the "transparent crystal" for how it catches the light.

On the globe

The model shows the rounded-triangle tower that swells and then tapers, with its steel diagrid showing as tall diamonds.