Defying signs that the global economy is in a major downturn, the 2,074-foot-tall Shanghai Tower, designed by Gensler, broke ground on Friday, November 28. The mixed-use glass-and-steel tower is slated to be the tallest building in China. 

While construction of other skyscrapers, such as Norman Foster’s Moscow Tower and Santiago Calatrava’s Chicago Spire, has been halted due to the market downturn, the Shanghai Tower project is moving full speed ahead, according to the architects. “The client understands that there are cycles in the market,” says Jun Xia, a principal in Gensler’s Shanghai office. “The client is confident in positioning this building as the first significant building in the new cycle when it is completed in 2014.”

The client, the Shanghai Tower Construction and Development Corporation, comprises three state-owned entities: a construction company, a commercial development company, and a development company that is heavily invested in urban infrastructure. Xia says that unlike speculative projects, “the funding is already there” for Shanghai Tower.  >more