Canton Tower
廣州塔[1]
The Canton Tower
General information
Type	Restaurant, observation, telecommunications
Location	Guangzhou, China
Coordinates	23°6′32″N 113°19′8″E / 23.10889°N 113.31889°E / 23.10889; 113.31889Coordinates: 23°6′32″N 113°19′8″E / 23.10889°N 113.31889°E / 23.10889; 113.31889
Construction started	November 2005
Topped-out	August 2009
Completed	2010
Height
Antenna spire	600 m (1,968.5 ft)
Roof	459.2 m (1,506.6 ft)
Technical details
Floor count	108 (plus 2 below ground)
Floor area	114,054 m2 (1,227,700 sq ft)
Elevators	6
Design and construction
Architect	Mark Hemel, Barbara Kuit; IBA
Structural engineer	Arup
References
[2][3][4]

Canton Tower, formerly Guangzhou TV Astronomical and Sightseeing Tower,^{[citation needed]} is an observation tower in the Haizhu District of Guangzhou, historically known as Canton or Kwangchow, Guangdong, China.^[5][6][7] Topping out of the tower was in 2009 and it became operational on 29 September 2010 for the 2010 Asian Games.^[8] The tower briefly held the title of tallest completed tower in the world, replacing the CN Tower, before being surpassed by the Tokyo Skytree in 2011.^[9] It is the tallest structure in China and the fourth-tallest freestanding structure in the world. It is named after "Canton", the traditional European name of the city.

History[link]

The tower is designed by the Dutch architects Mark Hemel and Barbara Kuit of Information Based Architecture together with Arup, the international design, engineering and business consulting firm headquartered in London, England. 2004, Information Based Architecture and Arup won the international competition, in which many internationally large architectural offices participated. The same year the IBA - Arup team in Amsterdam, developed the tower's concept design. In later stages, IBA cooperated mainly with the local Chinese office of Arup and a Local Design Institute. The tower, although not fully completed, opened to the public on 1 October 2010 in time for the 16th Asian Games, hosted by Guangzhou in November 2010.^[10][11] The rooftop observatory finally received its official opening in December 2011.

Naming[link]

There had been a long discussion about the naming of the Canton Tower since its construction started in 2005. In September 2009, at the request of the tower's investor, Guangzhou Daily launched a contest for naming proposals. The contest attracted over 180,000 valid entries, among which "Haixin Tower" (Chinese: 海心塔; literally "Tower in the River") was awarded the first prize. The name alluded to the city's historical setting as the start of the Maritime Silk Road and the tower's geographical proximity to Haixinsha Island. However, this name was considered obscure to people unfamiliar with the history of the city.^[12] Local residents continued to refer to the tower by various nicknames including "Slim Waist" (Chinese: 小蛮腰), "Twisted Firewood" (Chinese: 扭纹柴; a metaphor for "stubborn" in Cantonese) and "Yangdianfeng" (Chinese: 羊巅峰; literally "Peak of the Ram City"; homophonic to "epilepsy" in colloquial Chinese).^[13]

The naming was reconsidered in 2010. After surveying a broad range of public opinions, "Canton Tower" was decided as the official name and announced at the end of September 2010. The new name, despite its lack of historical reference, was considered the most identifying and least ambiguous among the multitude of proposals.^[14]

The twist[link]

Diagrams of the tallest TV-Towers

The idea of the tower's design is simple. The form, volume and structure is generated by two ellipses, one at foundation level and the other at a horizontal plane at 450 m (1,480 ft). These two ellipses are rotated relative to another. The tightening caused by the rotation between the two ellipses forms a "waist" and a densification of material half way up the tower. This means that the lattice structure, which at the bottom of the tower is porous and spacious, becomes denser at waist level. The waist itself becomes tight, like a twisted rope; transparency is reduced and views to the outside are limited. Further up the tower the lattice opens again, accentuated here by the tapering of the structural column-tubes.

The Canton tower's twisted shape or hyperboloid structure corresponds to the Russian Empire patent No. 1896, dated 12 March 1899 received by Vladimir Shukhov, the Russian engineer and architect.^[15] In Ukraine in delta of Dnepr is located the Adziogol Lighthouse (1911, project of Vladimir Shukhov) similar to the Canton tower.^[16]

Structural concept[link]

The tower was designed by Information Based Architecture and Arup. The Arup team led by structural engineer Prof. Dr. Joop Paul introduced near mass customisation to the joint design, in combination with parametric design methods, and applied a simple structural concept of three elements: columns, rings and braces, to this more complex geometry.

The waist of the tower contains a 180 m (590 ft) open-air skywalk where visitors can physically climb the tower. There are outdoor gardens set within the structure, and at the top, just above 450 m (1,480 ft), a large open-air observation deck.

The interior of the tower is subdivided into programmatic zones with various functions, including TV and radio transmission facilities, observatory decks, revolving restaurants, computer gaming, restaurants, exhibition spaces, conference rooms, shops, and 4D cinemas.

A deck at the base of the tower hides the tower's functional workings. All infrastructural connections – metro and bus stations – are situated underground. This level also includes exhibition spaces, a food court, a commercial space, a parking area for cars and coaches. There are two types of lifts, slow-speed panoramic and high-speed double-decker.

The zone from 80 to 170 m (260 to 560 ft) consists of a 4D cinema, a play-hall area, restaurants, coffee shops and outdoor gardens with teahouses. An open-air staircase, the Skywalk, starts at the height of 170 metres and spirals almost 200 metres higher, all the way through the waist.

The top zone of the tower begins above the stairway, housing various technical functions as well as a two-storey rotating restaurant, a damper and the upper observation levels. From the upper observation levels it is possible to ascend even higher, via a further set of the stairs, to a terraced observation square rising above the tower's top ring.

Rooftop observatory[link]

The rooftop has an outdoor public observatory 488 m (1,601 ft) above the ground, which takes the form of a terraced elliptical space, roughly the size of a small city square. Opened in December 2011, it is currently the highest and largest outdoor observation deck in the World.^[17]

Sixteen transparent "crystal" passenger cars, each with a diameter of 3.2 m (10 ft) and able to carry four to six people, travel on a track round the edge of the tower's roof, taking between 20 and 40 minutes to circumnavigate the rooftop.^[10] The installation is described by the media as a ferris wheel; however, its passenger cars are not suspended from the rim of a wheel and remain horizontal without being fully rotated, and the track, which follows the incline of the roof, is closer to the horizontal than the vertical.^[18][19]

Architectural lighting design[link]

Canton Tower, Guangzhou, CN Lit up at night

At night, the tower glows and emits light, rather than being uplit. Every node in the lighting design is individually controllable to allow for animations and colour changes across the entire height of the tower. As all lighting is based on LED technology and all fixtures are located on the structure itself, the lighting scheme consumes only 15% of the allowed maximum for facade lighting.^{[citation needed]}

Canton Tower has architectural lighting that was designed by Rogier van der Heide. The architectural feature lighting is based on the principle that the tower should not be "lit up" but "radiate a glow" at night. 7,000 LED light fixtures light the rings of the tower's structure each from underneath, to form a continuous glow.^{[citation needed]}

Gallery[link]

• GZTVtower2.jpg

  Construction begins
  February 2007

• 

  November 2007

• 

  August 2008

See also[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Guangzhou TV & Sightseeing Tower

• Guangzhou Broadcasting Network
• Guangzhou TV Tower
• List of tallest freestanding structures in the world
• List of tallest towers in the world
• List of hyperboloid structures

References[link]

External links[link]

• Canton Tower official website
• The external LED lighting of Canton Tower
• 3D Animation of the construction of the Guangzhou TV & Sightseeing Tower by Intelibuild

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