The Jin Mao Building symbolizes Shanghai emerging into the
21st century. It is the tallest building in the country and third
tallest in the world; it hosts the tallest hotel ever built. With
an east-meets-west design signifying Shanghai's emergence as a
modern global city, Jin Mao follows the multi-use paradigm,
offering retail shopping at its base, offices above, and the Grand
Hyatt World's Highest Hotel occupying the upper 38 floors.
The Jin Mao building was designed by US architectural firm Skidmore
Owings & Merrill, and was built by the Shanghai Jian Gong
Group, the first Chinese national construction group to tackle such
a large and significant project. The Jin Mao Building is a
luxurious complex combining office space with commercial space, a
shopping mall, and entertainment functions. The three basement
levels house electric facilities, service facilities, parking
spaces and a food court.
The Jin Mao building is a superb design, combining elements of
traditional Chinese architecture and a gothic influence to produce
this amazingly modern building. Architects designed the building
around the theme of the Chinese pagoda and the number 8(the number
8 is considered extremely lucky by Chinese people): the lowest
segment of the building is sixteen stories high and each succeeding
segment is 1/8th smaller than its predecessor.
Two elevators with a speed of 9.1 m/sec. work to transport visitors
in seconds from the first basement to the sightseeing floor. At
this level, visitors have a far-ranged 360 degree view of new
Jinmao Building houses the world's tallest bar, Cloud 9 Bar, from where tourists can admire beautiful sunset, as well as
splendid landscapes of Shanghai.