Tianjin Chow Tai Fook Binhai Center, Supertall skyscraper in Binhai New Area, Tianjin, China
The Tianjin Chow Tai Fook Binhai Center is a 530-meter-tall skyscraper with 97 floors above ground, wrapped in a curved glass exterior. Eight sloping mega-columns support the structure and give it its tapered form. The tower is square in plan with rounded corners, and its crown is looped by the mega-columns.
A groundbreaking ceremony was held on 20 November 2009 with then Tianjin mayor Huang Xingguo attending, and the project was proposed as an idea in 2011. The steel crown was sealed on 31 October 2017 and the building was completed in September 2019. It was financed by the Hong Kong-based Chow Tai Fook group with an investment of about 8 billion yuan.
The tower represents Tianjin's shift into a modern business center and shows how the city reinvents itself through architecture. Locals and visitors experience office spaces, residences, and hotels stacked vertically, reflecting how contemporary Chinese cities build upward rather than outward.
The building houses 267 elevators to move people through its many floors efficiently. Its tapered aerodynamic shape helps reduce wind pressure on the structure as you go higher.
The tower's crown was sealed on 31 October 2017, and the completed building took the Tall/Slender Structure award from the Institution of Structural Engineers in 2021. Its nickname among locals is Jingu Bang, after the monkey king's staff. The crown is likened to cicada wings.
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