Shanghai Tower Case Study: Twist, Double Skin and Sky Gardens (Gensler)

Shanghai Tower is a 632 m office, hotel and observation tower in Shanghai's Lujiazui district, designed by Gensler with Thornton Tomasetti as structural engineer and completed in 2015. It shows how a twisting, tapering form cut the wind load, how a hung glass skin wraps a round inner building with sky-garden atria between, and how super columns, outriggers and a damper keep it standing and still. Below: brief, site, plan, structure, facade, services, the record since opening, and lessons for India.

Shanghai Tower at a glance

Design architect: Gensler. Architect of record: Tongji Architectural Design (Group) Co., Ltd.
Engineers: Thornton Tomasetti, structural design (Tongji as engineer of record); Cosentini Associates and Aurecon, building services; RWDI and the Alan G. Davenport Wind Engineering Group, wind; Motioneering, damping.
Contractor: Shanghai Construction Group.
Client: Shanghai Tower Construction & Development Co.
Location: 479 Lujiazui Ring Road, Pudong, Shanghai, beside Jin Mao Tower and the Shanghai World Financial Center. Site area 30,370 m² (World Construction Network).
Dates: proposed 2008; construction from 2009 (CTBUH), with foundation work reported from November 2008; completed 2015; officially opened in April 2017, according to China Daily.
Size: 632 m to the top, highest occupied floor 583.4 m; 128 floors above ground and 5 below (CTBUH Skyscraper Center). Floor area is given as 380,000 m² (Thornton Tomasetti) or 420,000 m² (CTBUH) for the tower, and about 575,000 m² including basements and podium (China Daily).
Type: offices, a 258-room hotel, retail, conference space and observation levels.
Status: open; the observation deck is open to the public. LEED Platinum and China Three-Star rated.

Figures from Gensler's facade paper (Zeljic, 2010), the CTBUH, Thornton Tomasetti and a Tongji University paper; where sources disagree we give both. Diagrams are MOA's own schematics.

The brief and the client

The programme was a mixed-use supertall. Gensler's facade leader Aleksandar Zeljic, in a 2010 conference paper published by Gensler, lists five main functions: office, boutique office, a luxury hotel, retail and cultural venues in the podium, and an observation experience at the top. It calls the tower a "self-sustaining vertical city".

Gensler partner Dan Winey told Architectural Record (Clifford A. Pearson, October 2015) that the aim was "vertical urbanism". Jun Xia, the Gensler partner who grew up in Shanghai, explained the idea through the city itself: "Shanghai is a city of small parks that help define neighborhoods."

Site and context: the third tower in Lujiazui

The tower completes a group of three supertalls in the Lujiazui finance district of Pudong, across the Huangpu River from the Bund. Its neighbours are SOM's Jin Mao Tower, about 421 m (1,381 ft), and KPF's Shanghai World Financial Center, about 492 m (1,615 ft) (Architectural Record). Zeljic calls it "the third and final" planned super-high-rise of the district, and says the podium was meant to give uninterrupted public circulation between the three towers.

Wind tests found the two neighbours raise local turbulence intensity by 14% to 40% (Zeljic), and RWDI notes the site is typhoon-prone and seismic. For how to set out a site study like this one, see our guide to documenting a building for a case study.

Shanghai Tower seen across the Huangpu River on a clear day: a tall glass tower that tapers and twists as it rises, with a notch spiralling up one side, standing beside the stepped, pagoda-like Jin Mao Tower and lower apartment and office blocks along the riverbank — Shanghai Tower by Gensler, seen across the Huangpu: the tapering, twisting outline is what cut the wind load, with Jin Mao Tower (SOM) to its left. Photo: Stefan Fussan, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Concept: a vertical city of nine zones

The tower is divided vertically into nine zones (Gensler; Architectural Record). Each zone is a round building of 12 to 15 storeys (12 in zone 2, rising to 15 in zone 8, per Zeljic), sitting inside a single glass skin. Between the round building and the skin are atria, which Gensler calls sky gardens. Architectural Record counts 21 atria, each 10 to 14 storeys high, with shops and restaurants at their base; Xia called them "interior parks". The CTBUH, recognising the completed tower in January 2016, described each zone as rising from a sky lobby, a "light-filled garden atrium" (Illinois Tech, 8 January 2016).

Zeljic names Norman Foster's Commerzbank in Frankfurt as the best-known precedent, and says Shanghai's humidity, up to 95%, made the idea a new challenge.

Shanghai Tower floor plan and zoning

Each typical floor is a circle. The outer skin is a rounded triangle based, Zeljic explains, on an equilateral triangle smoothed by two tangential curves offset at 60 degrees, with a V-shaped notch at one corner that runs up the full height. The three corners left between the circle and the triangle are the atria; Zeljic's paper refers to three atria per zone. Zone 9 at the top has neither the inner wall nor atria.

Uses stack by zone. Architectural Record gives retail and conference space in the bottom zone, offices in zones 2 to 6, the hotel in zones 7 and 8, and observation levels at the top, with pairs of mechanical and refuge floors between the zones.

Schematic plan of a typical Shanghai Tower zone: a round floor plate with a square concrete core at its centre, four pairs of super columns on the main axes and four diagonal corner columns near the edge, set inside a rounded triangular outer glass skin with a V-shaped notch at one corner. The three corner spaces between the round building and the outer skin are atria, crossed by radial struts that tie the outer skin back to the slab edges. An inset shows the triangular outline turning about 120 degrees and shrinking from base to top. A note gives the structural plan as 83.6 m across at the base and 42 m in zone 8, the core as up to 30 m by 30 m, and three atria per zone, 21 in all. — Each zone is a round building inside a rounded triangular skin; the corners between them are the atria, and the outline turns about 120 degrees up the tower. Diagram: MOA

For the architects' own drawings, see the Zeljic facade paper (figures 2, 3, 12, 13 and 20) and on Gensler's project page.

Shanghai Tower structural system

The 120-degree twist and the wind load

The form is controlled by three variables, Zeljic writes: the plan profile; a vertical profile on an exponential curve, keeping a wide footprint for the lower third and narrowing by about 55% overall; and a rate of twist, a simple linear rotation from base to top. RWDI tested the options at 1:500 scale against a wind climate model that included simulated typhoons.

The team compared rotations of 90, 120, 150, 180 and 210 degrees and scalings from 25% to 85% against a tapered box. A scaling of about 55% with 120 degrees of rotation gave up to 24% savings in structural wind loading and cladding pressure, which Zeljic puts at about US$50 million in the structure alone. A 180-degree twist would have cut loads by a further 9%, but was not pursued for aesthetic reasons. Later accounts repeat the 24% figure, though the saving varies: Gensler told Architectural Record in 2015 that the shape "saved $58 million in materials", and Thornton Tomasetti says only that it reduced material cost.

Core, super columns, belt trusses and outriggers

Wei Huang and Jiang Qian of Tongji University, in a 2014 paper on the lateral system, describe a steel-concrete hybrid "mega frame, core tube, outrigger" structure:

Core: reinforced concrete, with steel plate embedded below floor 14, up to 30 m by 30 m at the base. Thornton Tomasetti gives the core as 90 by 90 feet.
Super columns: four pairs of concrete super columns and four diagonal corner super columns, all reinforced with shaped steel. Architectural Record describes eight super columns with steel inside and concrete outside.
Belt trusses: eight two-storey belt trusses, one at each strengthened refuge storey, which tie the columns of each zone together.
Outriggers: six outrigger systems, in zone 2 and zones 4 to 8, connecting the core to the mega frame.

Their analysis finds the core is the first line of seismic resistance and the super columns the second. Thornton Tomasetti adds that the outriggers and super columns draw their stiffness from the concrete inner building, and that they also carry the twisting curtain wall. The structural plan is 83.6 m across at the base and 42 m in zone 8 (Huang and Qian).

Foundation

Thornton Tomasetti says the core stands on 1,079 concrete and steel bored piles. The World Construction Network describes a 6 m thick mat of 61,000 m³ of concrete placed by more than 2,000 workers and finished in March 2010. Zeljic, writing before construction, gives a 6 m mat and "about 3,500 piles" for the whole foundation system and an expected building weight of about 850,000 tonnes; we could not reconcile his pile count with Thornton Tomasetti's, and his may include the podium.

The damper

Near the top hangs a tuned mass damper. Thornton Tomasetti calls it a double-hung pendulum that reduces wind-induced movement, and RWDI says it was added as an "extra guarantee" of occupant comfort after the form had already cut most motion. China Daily, republished by the Shanghai government in August 2025, gives a 1,000-tonne eddy current damper on the 125th floor, hung from 12 steel cables, with a sway range of 2 m in each direction. CGTN (14 August 2026) cites a 2017 Tongji University study for up to 60% less wind-induced movement; we have not seen that study.

Schematic section of Shanghai Tower: a tapering outer glass skin over nine stacked zones. Zones 1 to 8 are round inner buildings that step in as they rise, each capped by a dark two-storey mechanical and refuge floor with a belt truss; red outrigger trusses link the central concrete core to the super columns at six of those levels. Zone 1 is the podium with retail and conference space, zones 2 to 6 offices, 7 and 8 a hotel, and zone 9 observation levels. A red damper hangs near the top at the 125th floor. A height rule marks the 632 m top, the 583.4 m highest occupied floor and the 562.1 m observatory. A 6 m concrete mat on bored piles sits below ground. A detail shows the outer glass on ring beams, hung on rods from the mechanical floor above and braced back to the slab edges by hinged struts so it can slide vertically, with notes giving rod, beam, strut and glass sizes from the facade paper. — The tower is stacked like nine buildings, each zone carried by belt and outrigger trusses, while the outer glass hangs from the mechanical floor above and slides on hinged struts. Diagram: MOA

Materials and construction: the double skin facade

The facade is two glass walls with the atria between. Zeljic calls them Curtain Wall A, the outer twisting skin, and Curtain Wall B, the inner wall around each round building, with about 210,000 m² of glazing between them at design stage.

Curtain Wall A does not sit on the floors. Its main support is a horizontal ring beam of 356 mm steel pipe at every 4.5 m of height (4.3 m in zones 7 and 8). Pairs of 60 to 80 mm high-strength rods hang these ring beams from the mechanical and refuge floor above. Radial struts of 219 mm pipe, rigidly fixed to the ring and hinged at the slab edge, carry wind load back to the inner building while letting the skin slide up and down. Zeljic gives the largest vertical movement as 114 mm, at zone 2.

Shanghai's codes required insulated glass for any wall enclosing conditioned space, which in panels up to 2.2 by 4.5 m would have added about 25% to the outer glass weight. After review by client, city and government expert panels, Curtain Wall A was treated as a weather screen for an unconditioned, ventilated atrium, and the inner Curtain Wall B became the true thermal wall. That let the outer skin use laminated glass (12 mm low-iron, an SGP interlayer, 12 mm low-iron) while the inner wall used insulated units (Zeljic).

As built, Architectural Record reports more than 20,000 curtain wall panels in more than 7,000 unique shapes, set out with lasers fixed at 30 locations across Pudong.

Looking up at Shanghai Tower against a cloudy blue sky: the outer glass skin curves and twists toward the top, its horizontal bands stepping out at each floor, a V-shaped notch spiralling up the edge, and through the lower glass the inner building and the struts that tie the two skins together are visible — Shanghai Tower by Gensler, seen from below in 2015: through the outer glass you can see the inner building and the struts that brace the hung skin back to it. Photo: Ermell, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Light, climate and services

The atrium works as a thermal buffer. Zeljic says only the lowest 15 feet or so of each atrium is mildly conditioned, by perimeter fan coil units, mainly in weather extremes; the rest is ventilated by natural updraft, regulated exhausts at the top and spill air from the floors. Energy modelling put the whole building about 21% better than ASHRAE 90.1-2004 and about 12.5% better than China's Three-Star baseline, with 7% of that from the skin.

Gensler's project page lists LEED Platinum, a China Three-Star rating and 270 wind turbines; Architectural Record says the turbines power exterior lighting, and quotes Gensler's figure of a 34,000-tonne annual cut in carbon emissions against conventional projects. These are design or certification claims. We found no published, metered energy record for the occupied tower, so treat them as targets. The CTBUH lists 106 lifts, with a top speed of 20.5 m/s; China Daily gives 18 m/s.

Reception: awards, cost and slow occupancy

Awards: the CTBUH named it Best Tall Building Worldwide in November 2016, from 132 entries in 27 countries, praising the atria set within the double skin (FMLink, 9 November 2016). Thornton Tomasetti lists an IABSE Outstanding Structure Award (2016), and the CTBUH gave it a 10 Year Award in 2025 (Skyscraper Center).
Cost: China Daily (Xu Junqian, 14 July 2017) gives 14.8 billion yuan (US$2.2 billion). Architectural Record (2015) gives a US$1.54 billion construction cost and a US$2.2 billion project cost. These are figures of their day.
Occupancy: in June 2017, CNBC (Sophia Yan) reported, citing JLL, that about 60% of the office space was leased but only a third of those tenants had moved in, with a fire safety permit among the delays, while Shanghai's prime office vacancy stood at 12%.

What designers in India can take from it

This is our reading, not a claim from the sources.

Let wind tests choose the form, early. Gensler set the twist and taper as variables and let the wind tunnel compare them before the design was fixed. On a tall building in a cyclone-prone coastal city, have massing options tested at concept stage, when a change in taper or corner is still cheap.
Design the facade as a moving structure. The outer skin here hangs, slides and has movement joints sized in millimetres. For any large glass facade, put movement allowances and the support logic in the facade brief from the start.
A glass atrium in a hot, humid climate is a heat trap unless it is ventilated and shaded. Shanghai's double skin works because only the bottom of the atrium is conditioned and the rest vents upward. In Indian climates, model the airflow and solar gain of any glazed buffer, and say whether an energy figure is modelled or metered. Our guide to IGBC, GRIHA, LEED and the energy code explains what Indian ratings measure.
Make one floor do several jobs. The two-storey floors between zones hold plant, refuge space, belt trusses, outriggers and the hangers for the facade. If your tower needs refuge floors under local fire rules, see whether the same floors can carry structure and services too. Height limits come first; our explainer on setbacks, FAR and height limits covers how Indian byelaws shape that.

For a tall-building thesis, our B.Arch thesis topics by typology lists commercial and mixed-use briefs where these questions come up.

Visiting Shanghai Tower

The observation deck is on the 118th floor, according to China Daily's August 2025 report, which also describes a guided tour that includes the damper on the 126th floor and a glass dining room on the 121st floor, 561 m above the ground. The podium connects to the metro by escalator (Architectural Record). Check opening hours and tickets on the tower's official site, shanghaitower.com.cn, which we could not load when writing this. The offices and hotel floors are private.

Looking for an architect who can take a building from form to facade to services? Find an architect on MOA.

FAQ

When was Shanghai Tower built?

Foundation work began around late 2008, with construction from 2009 by the CTBUH's dates. The tower was completed in 2015, and China Daily reports that it officially opened in April 2017.

Who designed Shanghai Tower?

Gensler was the design architect, with Tongji Architectural Design (Group) as architect of record and Thornton Tomasetti as structural engineer. The client was Shanghai Tower Construction & Development Co.

How tall is Shanghai Tower and how many floors does it have?

It is 632 m (2,073 ft) to the top, with the highest occupied floor at 583.4 m, per the CTBUH. The CTBUH and Thornton Tomasetti give 128 floors above ground; Gensler's 2010 facade paper counted 120 floors plus four equipment floors, and China Daily says 132.

How heavy is the Shanghai Tower damper?

China Daily gives 1,000 tonnes, hung from 12 steel cables on the 125th floor, using eddy currents to slow its swing. It reduces wind-induced sway for people on the upper floors.

How much did Shanghai Tower cost?

China Daily gave 14.8 billion yuan (US$2.2 billion) in 2017; Architectural Record gave US$1.54 billion for construction and US$2.2 billion for the whole project in 2015.

Sources

Aleksandar Zeljic, Gensler: Shanghai Tower Façade Design Process (ICBEST 2010 paper) (accessed 4 Nov 2026)
CTBUH Skyscraper Center: Shanghai Tower (accessed 4 Nov 2026)
Thornton Tomasetti: Shanghai Tower (accessed 4 Nov 2026)
Gensler: Shanghai Tower (accessed 4 Nov 2026)
Wei Huang and Jiang Qian, Tongji University, WCCM XI 2014: The correlation between complicated lateral load resisting system of the Shanghai Tower (accessed 4 Nov 2026)
Clifford A. Pearson, Architectural Record: Shanghai Tower, 16 October 2015 (accessed 4 Nov 2026)
RWDI: Shanghai Tower (accessed 4 Nov 2026)
World Construction Network: Shanghai Tower, 24 May 2024 (accessed 4 Nov 2026)
China Daily, via Shanghai Municipal People's Government: Adrenaline junkies can now take their dinners to sky-high heights, 29 August 2025 (accessed 4 Nov 2026)
CGTN: Shanghai Tower's 1,000-tonne pendulum that tames typhoon winds, 14 August 2026 (accessed 4 Nov 2026)
Xu Junqian, China Daily: China's tallest building shapes Shanghai skyline, 14 July 2017 (accessed 4 Nov 2026)
Sophia Yan, CNBC: China's tallest skyscraper is facing rental woes, 2 June 2017 (accessed 4 Nov 2026)
Illinois Tech Today: CTBUH recognizes completion of Shanghai Tower, 8 January 2016 (accessed 4 Nov 2026)
FMLink: CTBUH names Shanghai Tower Best Tall Building Worldwide, 9 November 2016 (accessed 4 Nov 2026)
Shanghai Tower: official site (could not be loaded, 4 Nov 2026)
Wikimedia Commons: Shanghai Tower, Stefan Fussan and Shanghai Tower, Ermell (accessed 4 Nov 2026)
Wikimedia Commons: Copyright rules by territory: China (freedom of panorama) (accessed 4 Nov 2026)