Editor’s note: This article was first published in July 2011, as a news item. The builder’s plan for 45 more projects of this size and the fears of other builders reflect that moment.
China, 7 a.m. on a Monday. Work begins on the building’s formwork, and by 11 p.m. on Saturday it’s finished and ready for guests. It’s a pioneering new construction technique that mimics an assembly line.
A crew of 200 construction workers worked in three shifts, and not a single workplace accident was recorded. The building is designed to withstand a magnitude 9 earthquake, is environmentally friendly, and has a ventilation system with filters that make the air inside 20 times cleaner than the air outside. It’s built entirely with insulating materials, so the hotel will save on energy.
Obviously, the materials for the building, along with the fittings, had already been prepared in advance.
The video below shows, at ultra-high speed, how the building went up. The construction company plans to carry out another 45 projects of this size, some in China and some abroad, which has some builders worried about China moving into the construction business: in other countries, this building would have taken an average of 16 months. China did it in 6 days, and on the seventh day… it rested.
Watch: Time-lapse of the hotel’s construction
Featured image: SSJF01, CC0 1.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
