China Zun Tower Facts and Information

Name

The official name of China Zun Tower is "CITIC Tower", it's named after the company CITIC (China International Trust Investment Corporation), a state-owned investment company of China, the building will become the headquarters of the company.
The tower's nickname China Zun is given for the tower appearing like a "Zun", which is a sort of ancient Chinese bronze artifact for ritualistic uses, the name China Zun is more widely used.

Location

China Zun Tower is located at the Z15 plot of Beijing's Central Business District (CBD) core area in Chaoyang District, the plot is situated by a road called Guanghua Road. The CBD core area has more than 20 other tall buildings built or planned to be built, ranging from 150 meters to 368 meters in height.

The CBD core occupies an area of 30 hectares, it is expanded from the former area of CBD to the east, at the northeast side of the Third Ring Road and Jianguo Avenue intersection. The CBD core is approximately 5.5 kilometers east of Tiananmen Square, the central point of the city. Although the core area is actually located further from the city's center than the former area of CBD, the city has planned to continue to expand the CBD towards the east, which will make the core area standing at the center of the final CBD area.
China Zun Tower will connect to a vast underground transportation network spanning the whole CBD area, the network comprised of passageways linking the major buildings' basements, lined with retail stores, it will also connect to three stations of the city's subway system, all these will make access to the tower more convenient.

Height

China Zun Tower stands at 528 meters, this is measured from the ground to tips on the building's parapet at top. The highest occupied floor is at 515 meters off the ground.

China Zun Tower is the tallest building in Beijing, in foreseeable future, no other buildings will be built higher than it in Beijing. As of 2019, China Zun Tower is the 6th tallest building in China and the 10th tallest building in the world.

The tower was originally proposed to be 508 meters tall, a nod to the 508-meter-tall Taipei 101 Tower in Taiwan, which was the tallest building in Greater China Region of that time. The designed height increased to the final height at 528 meters in 2011.

China Zun Tower is 198 meters taller than the 330-meter China World Trade Center 3A, the previous holder of the title of Beijing's tallest building.

Uses

China Zun Tower is an office building, offering office spaces for its owner CITIC and a few of other tenants.
The tower has 108 floors above the ground, first 2 floors are the lobby of the building, 3rd and 4th floors are occupied by a conference center. The main body of the tower (7 to 102 floors) are broken up to 7 zones which are divided by a series of two-floor mechanical spaces, each zone contains 9 to 13 levels(floors).
The seven zones are: Zone 1 (levels 7-16), Zone 2 (levels 19-28), Zone 3 (levels 31-42), Zone 4 (levels 45-56), Zone 5 (levels 59-72), Zone 6 (levels 75-86) and Zone 7 (levels 89-102). Zone 3 will house the headquarters of CITIC Bank and Zone 6 will house the headquarters of CITIC Group, Zone 7 will likely be occupied by a hotel. The remaining zones will house some branches of CITIC, as well as to be leased to some other tenants. Three sky lobbies are located at the tops of Zones 2,4 and 6, containing meeting and dining facilities, they are accessible via a set of dedicated high-speed double-decker elevators. The 105th to 107th floors are occupied by a business club and an observation deck, which will offer panoramic views of Beijing's cityscape, and will be opened to public.

China Zun Tower has 8 basement floors, the deepest floor is for mechanical use, the levels B1 to B7 have a total area of 87,000 square meters, the level B1 is occupied by some retail stores, including a CITIC Bookshop, the remaining basement floors are all used as parking spaces.

Design

TFP Farrells made a conceptual design for CITIC Tower during the project's land bid phase in 2010, the concept established the rough shape of the building, which resembles a "Zun", a sort of ancient Chinese ceremonial vessel. Based on this roughly designed form, American architectural firm Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates refined this form and designed the details of the building. The local firm Beijing Institute of Architectural Design acted as architect of record on the project.
As its appearance suggests, the shape of China Zun Tower draws inspiration from the form of ancient artifact "Zun", of which the vertical form is inward curved, the waist is distinctively thinner than the bottom and the top.

The tower rises from its 78-meter-wide base, gradually shrinks to a 54-meter-wide midsection, and expands to its 69-meter-wide crown at the top. This form expresses the curvature of the "Zun", and the proportion is adjusted to meet the structural requirements.

In contrast to the tower's curving shape, the floor plates of the tower are simply square with rounded corners, the rounded square form can reduce wind loads on the building. The width of each floor plates changes from the base to the top, making the waist of the tower thinner than remaining sections.

The tower waist is designed to be higher than all the surrounding buildings, at a height of 385 meters, to make the tower's curved profile standing out in the skyline of Beijing.

Compared to a tapering tower, China Zun Tower's curving form offers more prime floor space for tenants in upper floors.

At the base, the tower is anchored into the ground with massive corner supports, and at each side of the base the building's shell is gently lifted up and stretched outward, appearing like an arch, which makes the entry more appealing.

The uppermost floors (105th-108th floors) of the tower are not connected to the exterior shell, they are built inside a trumpet-shaped structure, with round floor plates. The window glass on the shell surrounding these floors is made more transparent, which will make the outer views more clear seen from there. Besides, the area will be illuminated at night, to make the tower's crown appearing like a beacon that will be visible throughout the city.

The top floor of the tower is designed to have an observation deck, from there visitors can enjoy the panoramic view of the city, and see the view of the Fragrant Hills in the distance.

The rooftop of the tower will have solar panels installed, they will contribute to the building's anticipated LEED Gold certification.

The gross floor area of the tower is 437,000 square meters (4.7 million square feet).

China Zun Tower contains the city’s fastest elevators, of which the maximum speed is 10 m/s, same as that of an elevator in the nearby China World Trade Center 3A Tower.

Development

In 2010, CITIC proposed to build a supertall tower of over 500 meters in height in CBD core area in Beijing, the company purchased the Z-15 plot of the CBD core area through bidding process.
The final design of the tower was unveiled in January 2011.
CITIC Group manages the development of China Zun Tower via its subsidiary CITIC HEYE Investment.
The groundbreaking ceremony of building took place in Beijing on September 19, 2011, the construction work began in the early 2012.
Cladding installation began in early March 2016.

As of the early May 2016, China Zun Tower had reached a height of over 230 meters, about as tall as the nearby CCTV Headquarters, a landmark building in the city.