Quote:
Originally Posted by Onn
I doubt the builders have any attention of making money on it, especially if it's being funded by the government. It's jobs and a piece to the skyline, not a piece of real estate. Hardly could China's economy be considered free market, the balance sheets in a project like this have little importance.
I'm skeptical if anyone will remember it exists in 20 years.
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I don't think it's quite the Empire State Building just because China is producing SO MANY gigantic towers, and the ESB was world's tallest for almost half a century.
Still, the only way people forget this building exists is if supertalls become commonplace and if this building is dwarfed by some future nearby projects. That is feasible, but it would mean it's also happening to all the other supertalls we are commenting on anywhere on these forums so it's kind of a moot point if you're making the comment specific to this one. There are lots of manmade structures with very little floor space that get plenty of attention. You don't have to actually live or work in a building to be aware of it and consider it notable - how many people have been inside the Washington Memorial, the Saint Louis Arch or the Statue of Liberty? Those projects are more reminiscent of the goals China seems to have in its supertalls even if China's do have some living space inside them.
On that note, how many people actually worked in the World Trade Center (which by the way was also built by government), or have worked in the Empire State Building, the Transamerica Pyramid or the Sears Tower versus the number of people who know about them because they are tall and architecturally significant?
Actually, I think it's the purely utilitarian buildings purely driven by profit and use that end up being forgotten about as run-of-the-mill office buildings, which is not a bad thing because their purpose was never to be landmarks. Maximum efficiency has never been the main purpose of skyscrapers; mid-rises and low-rises are far more economical when it comes to density and materials, and the densest neighborhoods in the world are full of 10-15 story buildings. Skyscrapers are built for novelty and they are profitable because of their flamboyance and advertising value; actual use comes second.