[staff]

Gensler is indeed the winner.

http://www.shanghaidaily.com/sp/arti...cle_364364.htm

City skyscraper to look like coiled dragon

By Chen Qian | 2008-6-24 | ONLINE EDITION

THE planned 580-meter-tall Shanghai Center will look like a coiled dragon according to its architects, the Architectural Design & Research Institute of Tongji University and United States-based Gensler Firm, Oriental Morning Post reported today.

The top of the skyscraper will look like either a turned up dragon tail or an inverted Olympic torch.

Construction of the building will start this year in Lujiazui, Pudong New Area, under the approval of the Shanghai Development & Reform Commission, the report said.

Once it is finished, it will be the tallest building in China, exceeding the 492 meters of the under-construction Shanghai World Financial Center, the 420.5-meter Jin Mao Tower and Taipei 101, which is the country's present tallest building at 501 meters.

The bid for Shanghai Center started in April 2005. More than 10 domestic and overseas design firms took part.

Gensler and Tongji University will soon begin more detailed designs for the building, the report said.　

Shanghai Center will greatly relieve the shortage of office space in Lujiazui, according to a previous report from Xinhuanet.com.

By the end of 2006, there were 112 office buildings with 7.89 million square meters of space in Lujiazui. Ninety percent of the offices are fully occupied.
Pudong plans to add 3 million square meters of office buildings within five years.