Raffles City Chengdu Serviced Apartment Block

Chengdu
Height 112.4 m / 369 ft
Floors 33
Official Name
The current legal building name.

Raffles City Chengdu Serviced Apartment Block

Other Names
Other names the building has commonly been known as, including former names, common informal names, local names, etc.

Sliced Porosity Serviced Apartment Block

Name of Complex
A complex is a group of buildings which are designed and built as pieces of a greater development.

Raffles City Chengdu

Type
CTBUH collects data on two major types of tall structures: 'Buildings' and 'Telecommunications / Observation Towers.' A 'Building' is a structure where at least 50% of the height is occupied by usable floor area. A 'Telecommunications / Observation Tower' is a structure where less than 50% of the structure's height is occupied by usable floor area. Only 'Buildings' are eligible for the CTBUH 'Tallest Buildings' lists.

Building

Status
Completed
Architecturally Topped Out
Structurally Topped Out
Under Construction
Proposed
On Hold
Never Completed
Vision
Competition Entry
Canceled
Proposed Renovation
Under Renovation
Renovated
Under Demolition
Demolished

Completed, 2012

Country
The CTBUH follows the United Nations's definition of Country, and thus uses the lists and codes established by that organization.

China

City
The CTBUH follows the United Nations's definition of City, and thus uses the lists and codes established by that organization.

Chengdu

Function
A single-function tall building is defined as one where 85% or more of its usable floor area is dedicated to a single usage. Thus a building with 90% office floor area would be said to be an "office" building, irrespective of other minor functions it may also contain.

A mixed-use tall building contains two or more functions (or uses), where each of the functions occupy a significant proportion of the tower's total space. Support areas such as car parks and mechanical plant space do not constitute mixed-use functions. Functions are denoted on CTBUH "Tallest Building" lists in descending order, e.g., "hotel/office" indicates hotel function above office function.

serviced apartments / retail

Structural Material
Steel
Both the main vertical/lateral structural elements and the floor spanning systems are constructed from steel. Note that a building of steel construction with a floor system of concrete planks or concrete slab on top of steel beams is still considered a “steel” structure as the concrete elements are not acting as the primary structure.

Reinforced Concrete
Both the main vertical/lateral structural elements and the floor spanning systems are constructed from concrete which has been cast in place and utilizes steel reinforcement bars.

Precast Concrete
Both the main vertical/lateral structural elements and the floor spanning system are constructed from steel reinforced concrete which has been precast as individual components and assembled together on-site.

Mixed-Structure
Utilizes distinct systems (e.g. steel, concrete, timber), one on top of the other. For example, a steel/concrete indicates a steel structural system located on top of a concrete structural system, with the opposite true of concrete/steel.

Composite
A combination of materials (e.g. steel, concrete, timber) are used together in the main structural elements. Examples include buildings which utilize: steel columns with a floor system of reinforced concrete beams; a steel frame system with a concrete core; concrete-encased steel columns; concrete-filled steel tubes; etc. Where known, the CTBUH database breaks out the materials used in a composite building’s core, columns, and floor spanning separately.

concrete

Height
Architectural
Height is measured from the level of the lowest, significant, open-air, pedestrian entrance to the architectural top of the building, including spires, but not including antennae, signage, flag poles or other functional-technical equipment. This measurement is the most widely utilized and is employed to define the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat (CTBUH) rankings of the "World's Tallest Buildings."

112.4 m / 369 ft

To Tip
Height is measured from the level of the lowest, significant, open-air, pedestrian entrance to the highest point of the building, irrespective of material or function of the highest element (i.e., including antennae, flagpoles, signage and other functional-technical equipment).
116.2 m / 381 ft
Occupied
Height is measured from the level of the lowest, significant, open-air, pedestrian entrance to the highest occupied floor within the building.
105.7 m / 347 ft
Floors Above Ground
The number of floors above ground should include the ground floor level and be the number of main floors above ground, including any significant mezzanine floors and major mechanical plant floors. Mechanical mezzanines should not be included if they have a significantly smaller floor area than the major floors below. Similarly, mechanical penthouses or plant rooms protruding above the general roof area should not be counted. Note: CTBUH floor counts may differ from published accounts, as it is common in some regions of the world for certain floor levels not to be included (e.g., the level 4, 14, 24, etc. in Hong Kong).

33

Floors Below Ground
The number of floors below ground should include all major floors located below the ground floor level.

4

Construction Schedule
2006

Proposed

2008

Construction Start

2012

Completed

Architect
Architect of Record

Usually takes on the balance of the architectural effort not executed by the "Design Architect," typically responsible for the construction documents, conforming to local codes, etc. May often be referred to as "Executive," "Associate," or "Local" Architect, however, for consistency CTBUH uses the term "Architect of Record" exclusively.

Structural Engineer
Design

The Design Engineer is usually involved in the front end design, typically taking the leadership role in the Schematic Design and Design Development, and then a monitoring role through the CD and CA phases.

MEP Engineer
Design

The Design Engineer is usually involved in the front end design, typically taking the leadership role in the Schematic Design and Design Development, and then a monitoring role through the CD and CA phases.

Architect
Design

Usually involved in the front end design, with a "typical" condition being that of a leadership role through either Schematic Design or Design Development, and then a monitoring role through the CD and CA phases.

Steven Holl Architects
Architect of Record

Usually takes on the balance of the architectural effort not executed by the "Design Architect," typically responsible for the construction documents, conforming to local codes, etc. May often be referred to as "Executive," "Associate," or "Local" Architect, however, for consistency CTBUH uses the term "Architect of Record" exclusively.

Structural Engineer
Design

The Design Engineer is usually involved in the front end design, typically taking the leadership role in the Schematic Design and Design Development, and then a monitoring role through the CD and CA phases.

MEP Engineer
Design

The Design Engineer is usually involved in the front end design, typically taking the leadership role in the Schematic Design and Design Development, and then a monitoring role through the CD and CA phases.

Main Contractor

The main contractor is the supervisory contractor of all construction work on a project, management of sub-contractors and vendors, etc. May be referred to as "Construction Manager," however, for consistency CTBUH uses the term "Main Contractor" exclusively.

China Construction Third Engineering Bureau Co., Ltd.

Research

01 September 2016

Evolution of Seismic Engineering and Design of Ultra Tall Buildings in China Innovations and Sustainability

Aaron J. Wang, CapitaLand Management

With the booming of construction and property industries in China, the demand for high-rises and mega-scale buildings with more integrated building functions, open- and tailor-shaped...

About Raffles City Chengdu Serviced Apartment Block

In the center of Chengdu, China, at the intersection of the first Ring Road and Ren Ming Nam Road, the Sliced Porosity Block forms large public plazas with a hybrid of different functions. The program consists of five towers with offices, serviced apartments, retail, a hotel, cafés and restaurants, and a large urban public plaza. Creating a metropolitan public space, this project takes its shape from the need to distribute natural light, such that each of the residential apartments experiences a minimum of two hours of sunlight each day.

The required minimum sunlight exposures to the surrounding urban fabric prescribe precise geometric angles that slice the exoskeletal concrete frame of the structure. The building structure is white concrete, organized in six-foot-high openings with earthquake diagonals as required, while the “sliced” sections are glass. The structural system used in the Sliced Porosity block consists largely of exoskeletal concrete framing, up to 123 meters high at the office towers. The concrete façades express the buildings’ structural behavior, as concrete diagonals cut across the column/beam grid where needed to carry vertical and seismic loads. The density and placement of these diagonals follow the requirements of the buildings’ carvings and multi-story cantilevers. The concrete mix contains a high proportion of recycled materials. A “break” from the concrete and glass material palette occurs in the public History Pavilion, which is faced in raw bamboo and COR-TEN steel.

Allowing the structure to be placed on the façades maximizes floor efficiency and allows large column-free spaces in the buildings. In Chengdu weather, it also serves a sustainable purpose as it acts as a container of thermal mass, conserving the cool indoor temperatures in the summer and warm indoor temperatures in the winter.

The large public space framed in the center of the block is formed into three valleys inspired by a poem of the city’s greatest poet, Du Fu (713-770), who wrote, “From the northeast storm-tossed to the southwest, time has left stranded in Three Valleys.” The three plaza levels feature water gardens based on concepts of time. These are the Fountain of the Chinese Calendar Year, Fountain of Twelve Months, and Fountain of Thirty Days. These three ponds function as skylights for the six-story shopping precinct below. Visitors transit between the levels of the public plaza via several means, including an inclined moving sidewalk and shallow stairs.

The designers achieved human scale in this metropolitan rectangle through the concept of “micro urbanism,” in which double-fronted shops open to the street as well as the shopping center. Three large openings are sculpted into the mass of the towers as the sites of the pavilion of history, designed by Steven Holl Architects, the Light Pavilion by Lebbeus Woods, and the Local Art Pavilion.

The Sliced Porosity Block is heated and cooled with 468 geothermal wells, and the large ponds in the plaza harvest recycled rainwater, while the natural grasses and lily pads create a natural cooling effect. High-performance glazing, energy-efficient equipment, and the use of regional materials are among the other methods employed to reach the LEED Gold rating.