Jin Mao Tower

진마오 타워

Jin Mao Tower is a 420.5-metre skyscraper with 88 floors (93 if the floors in the spire are counted) in Lujiazui, Pudong, Shanghai, China. Its Chinese name means Golden Prosperity Building. It holds a shopping mall, offices and the Grand Hyatt Shanghai hotel, and with the Oriental Pearl Tower, the Shanghai World Financial Center and the Shanghai Tower it forms the Lujiazui skyline seen from the Bund.

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At a glance

Country: China
Location: Shanghai, China
Built: 1999
Height: 421 m
Type: Skyscraper

Quick answers

Where is Jin Mao Tower?

Jin Mao Tower is in Shanghai, China.

When was Jin Mao Tower built?

Jin Mao Tower was built in 1999.

How tall is Jin Mao Tower?

Jin Mao Tower is about 421 m tall.

A skyscraper whose stepped profile reinterprets a traditional Chinese pagoda, an early icon of Pudong.

The Chicago firm Skidmore, Owings and Merrill designed it, and it cost an estimated 530 million US dollars. Its postmodern form draws on the tiered pagoda, stepping back gently as it rises. It was officially dedicated on 28 August 1998 and was fully in use in 1999.

Lucky number eight

Like the Petronas Towers in Malaysia, the building's proportions revolve around the number 8, which stands for prosperity in Chinese culture. The 88 floors are divided into 16 segments, each one-eighth shorter than the 16-storey base. The tower is built around an octagon-shaped concrete core with 8 exterior composite supercolumns and 8 steel columns. Even the dedication date was picked with eights in mind.

Built to stand firm

The foundations rest on 1,062 steel piles driven 83.5 metres into the ground, then the longest steel piles ever used for a land-based building. The tower can withstand typhoon winds up to 200 km/h, with the top swaying by at most 75 cm, and earthquakes up to magnitude 7. Steel shafts with shear joints work like shock absorbers, and the swimming pool on the 57th floor is also said to act as a passive damper.

Hotel in the sky

The five-star Grand Hyatt Shanghai has 555 rooms on floors 53 to 87. Its barrel-vaulted atrium starts at the 56th floor and rises to the 87th, 27 metres wide and about 115 metres tall, lined with 28 spiral corridors. The tower has 61 elevators and 19 escalators, and the world's longest laundry chute reportedly runs down its full length.

Fun facts

The 88 floors are divided into 16 segments, each one-eighth shorter than the base.
Its foundation piles go 83.5 metres deep.
The hotel atrium is about 115 metres tall.
Its dedication date, 28 August 1998, was chosen for its eights.