Travel-Shanghai,China(Shanghai World Financial Center)

The Shanghai World Financial Center is a supertall skyscraper located in the Pudong district of Shanghai, China. It was designed by Kohn Pedersen Fox and developed by Mori Building. It is a mixed-use skyscraper, consisting of offices, hotels, conference rooms, observation decks, and ground-floor shopping malls. Park Hyatt Shanghai is the hotel component, containing 174 rooms and suites. Occupying the 79th to the 93rd floors, it is the second-highest hotel in the world,surpassing the Grand Hyatt Shanghai on the 53rd to 87th floors of the neighboring Jin Mao Tower. On 14 September 2007, the skyscraper was topped out, at 492.0 meters (1,614.2 ft) making it the second-tallest building in the world at the time, and the tallest structure in the People's Republic of China prior to the construction of the nearby Shanghai Tower. It also had the highest occupied floor and the highest height to roof, two categories used to determine the title of "The World’s Tallest Building".On 28 August 2008, the SWFC officially opened for business. Two days later, the world's tallest observation deck opened, offering views from 474 m (1,555 ft) above ground level. The SWFC continues to have the tallest observation deck in the world. The SWFC has been lauded for its design, and in 2008 it was named by architects as the year's best completed skyscraper.

Designed by Kohn Pedersen Fox, the 101-story tower was originally planned for construction in 1997, but work was temporarily interrupted by the Asian Financial Crisis in the late 1990s and later to accommodate design changes by Mori Building Co.The building of the tower is financed by several multinational firms, including 3 Chinese,Japanese, and Hong Kong banks, as well as by the Japanese developer and as-yet unnamed American and European investors. American investment bank Morgan Stanley is coordinating the financing for Mori Building. Construction The foundation stone was laid on 27 August 1997. In the late 1990s the Pierre de Smet Building Corporation had a fund shortage caused by the Asian financial crisis in 1997 to 1998, which halted the project after the foundations were completed. On 13 February 2003, the Mori Group increased the building's height to 492 m and 101 stories from the initial plans for a 460 m (1,509 ft), 94-story building. The new building would use the foundation of the original design. The building construction resumed on 16 November 2003. The building reached its total height of 492 m on 14 September 2007 after installation of the final steel girder. The final cladding panels were installed in mid June 2008, and elevator installation was finished in mid July 2008. On 17 July 2008 The Shanghai World Financial Center was completed and on 28 August 2008, the SWFC officially opened for business. On 30 August 2008, the observation floors were opened to the public. Architecture The most distinctive feature in the design of the building is an aperture at the peak.The original design specified a circular aperture, 46 m (151 ft) in diameter, to reduce the stresses of wind pressure, as well as serve as a subtext for the design, since "Chinese mythology represents the earth with a square and the sky with a circle".It also resembled a Chinese moon gate due to its circular form in Chinese architecture. However, this initial design began facing protests from some Chinese, including the mayor of Shanghai, who considered it too similar to the rising sun design of the Japanese flag. Pedersen then suggested that a bridge be placed at the bottom of the aperture to make it less circular. On 18 October 2005, KPF submitted an alternative design to Mori Building and a trapezoidal hole replaced the circle at the top of the tower, which in addition to changing the controversial design, would also be cheaper and easier to implement according to the architects. In the eyes of some, the building resembles a giant bottle opener. In fact, metal replicas of the building that function as actual bottle openers are sold in the observation deck gift shop. There are 3 observation decks in Shanghai World Financial Center. The height of its lowest observation deck is 423 m (1,388 ft), on the 94th floor, the second is 439 m (1,440 ft) high, on the 97th floor, named "Observatory Bridge",and the highest is 474 m (1,555 ft) high, on the 100th floor. Admission