Ping An International Finance Centre, North Tower

A High Performance Icon For The Shenzhen Skyline

Located blocks away from the Pearl River Delta in the center of the bustling city of Shenzhen, The North Tower of the Ping An International Finance Center is the world’s tallest office building and the fourth tallest building in the world. The supertall structure, located in a high seismic zone, features 100 floors of office space and a steel-framed 11-story podium with high-end shopping, restaurants, cafes, supporting facilities, a conference center, and parking.

We provided structural design and performance-based seismic design services to KPF for the tallest building in Shenzhen, the fourth most populated city in China.

Highlights

• The Ping An International Finance Center is also the second tallest building in China, behind the 632-meter Shanghai Tower, for which Thornton Tomasetti also provided the structural design.
• It also shares the current record for the highest observation deck in the world with Shanghai Tower.
• The structural system consists of a composite concrete core with steel outriggers connecting to eight super-columns.
• The exterior frame is composed of seven double layer belt trusses located at the mechanical and refugee floors.
• The exterior belt trusses are interconnected with a super diagonal at each exterior face of the building.
• We also performed extensive nonlinear dynamic time history seismic analysis and provided numerous alternative design suggestions to meet the rigorous seismic expert review.