Goldin Finance 117 is a near-megatall skyscraper under construction in Tianjin, China. The skyscraper is known as the world's tallest flat-roof building, and one of the tallest buildings in the world.
Name:
The official name of the building is Goldin Finance 117, 'Goldin' originates from the name of the developer and owner of the building, Goldin Properties Holding; 'Finance' indicates that most portion of space in the building will be leased as offices for a variety of companies, 'Finance' is a word that many skyscrapers in China tend to use in the name if the building containing office spaces (e.g. Shanghai World Financial Center, which is actually a mixed use building); '117' indicates the floor count of the building.
The building is also commonly referred to as China 117 Tower.
Location:
The address of Goldin Finance 117 is on Haitai South-North Street in Huayuan Industry Park, Xiqing District, Tianjin.
The tower is situated on the northwest of the intersection of Haitai South-North Street and Jinjing Expressway, it's being developed as the centerpiece of a development called Goldin Metropolitan, which will feature a high-end residential area, entertainment venues, two international standard polo fields, retail outlets, and green spaces. Besides Goldin Finance 117, there will be three other 200m+ towers built in the development area, respectively are a 200-meter sister building of Goldin Finance 117 that is situated right behind it, and two twin towers that are both 223 meters.
Goldin Finance 117 is far away from the city center, it's 8.1 km (about same as the distance between the Statue of Liberty and the Empire State Building in New York City) west of Tianjin Radio & TV Tower, a landmark structure in the city center of Tianjin.
However, the planned Line 10 and Line 12 of city metro will pass through the site of the tower, providing convenient access to the tower. Currently the nearest metro line is Line 3, which is 2 kilometers south of the tower.
Height:
The architectural height of Goldin Finance 117 is 1957 ft (597 meters), which is also the building's roof height, structural height, and total height, as the building doesn't contain spires, antennas, or parapet, it's a solid 597-meters-high skyscraper and is the world's tallest flat-roof building.
The tower is the tallest building in Tianjin and Northern China, and 3rd tallest building in China. In the worldwide, it's the 5th tallest building, after Burj Khalifa, Shanghai Tower, Abraj Al Bait, and Ping An Finance Center. However, its concrete core is higher than that of all the 4 other buildings that are ranked ahead of it.
The tower has 117 habitable floors, 11 mechanical floors, in total there are 128 floors above ground. There are also 4 underground floors.
Uses: Office, Hotel, Observatory
Goldin Finance 117 will accommodate a mixture of uses.
The most floors of the tower will be used for offices, which starts from 7th floor, and ends at 92nd floor, the floors above that are occupied by a luxury hotel and an observatory on the top. The hotel starts from 94th floor and ends at 115th floor. The highest habitable floor at level 116 is the observation deck, which will also contain a sky bar.
There are three large sky lobbies located at various heights along the tower, respectively at 32nd, 63rd, and 94th floor.
The highest floor of the tower's hotel will have an indoor swimming pool, it's at the 115th floor of the tower, at 564 meters high, the swimming pool will become the highest in the world.
Design:
Goldin Finance 117 is designed by Hong Kong based P&T Group, an architecture firm that designed many landmark buildings in Hong Kong, Shanghai, and some Southeast Asian cities. Some notable projects designed by P & T Group include HSBC Building, Custom House, Peace Hotel in Shanghai; Exchange Square, Jardine House in Hong Kong; in the recent years P & T Group co-designed the iconic Raffles City in Chongqing with Safdie Architects.
East China Architectural Design & Research Institute acts as the architect of record for the project.
Goldin Finance 117 has a long slender form, the width-to-height ratio is 1:9.5, the width is based on the bottom width not the top width, the tower tapers gradually as it rises, the size of the ground floor is 65m x 65m (4,200 sq meters), the top floor is 46m x 46m (2,100 sq meters).
There are mega columns rising along each of the tower's four edges from the bottom to top, this visually apparent structural component is designed to make the tower more stable, and in the same time, framing the building's aluminum and silver reflective curtain wall on all four sides of the tower.
The total floor area of the building is 847,000 sq meters, including 342,000 sq meters of basement area, the tower above ground has 497,000 sq meters of floor area. The total floor area of the building is the largest for a single building in China.
The tower is topped with a striking diamond-shaped atrium on the top, which contains an observation deck and a sky bar.
Development:
In the mid 2007, Goldin Properties (the company was known as Song Ri Communications at that time) purchased the land of the tower at a low price. In December 12, groundbreaking ceremony was held for Goldin Finance 117 project.
In September 10, 2008, the construction of Goldin Finance 117 commenced.
On July 30, 2012, the construction for the basement of the tower was structurally completed, in October, the Third Bureau of China State Construction Engineering Corporation (CSCEC) was contracted as the main contractor to construct the above-ground part of the tower, and the construction began subsequently. The Third Bureau of CSCEC has constructed many other supertall and megatall skyscrapers in China, including Shanghai Tower, Ping An Finance Center, China Zun Tower, and many more.
On July 25, 2013, the tower surpassed 100-meter mark on height. And surpassed 200 meters by the end of 2013.
On July 4, 2014, the tower was built to 337 meters, surpassing the 336-meter Tianjin World Financial Center and became the tallest skyscraper in Tianjin. On September 17, the tower was built to 417 meters, surpassing the 415-meter Tianjin Radio & Television Tower becoming the tallest structure in Northern China.
On January 19, 2015, the concrete core of the tower was built to the level 101, reaching a height of 503 meters, making Goldin Finance 117 the 3rd building in China that stands over 500 meters. And the tower structurally topped out on September 8, 2015.
After that the construction suspended.
The construction resumed in 2018. On May 10, 2019, the crystal-shaped structure on the peak of the tower was topped out, making the whole tower to reach its full height at 596.6 meters.
Tourism:
The diamond-shaped atrium on the top of the tower will contain an observation deck, which is at the 116th floor and is 579 meters off the ground, once it opens it will break the record of the world's highest observation deck, a title that has been held by the 562-meter-high "Free Sky" Observatory on Ping An Finance Center in Shenzhen since 2017.
Visitors will get access to the observation deck by taking a high-speed double-decker elevator. The observation deck will also contain a sky bar.
