ctbuh.org/papers

Title: Engineering China’s Skylines

Author: Dasui Wang, Chief Engineer, ECADI

Subjects: Architectural/Design Building Case Study

Publication Date: 2016

Original Publication: CTBUH Journal, 2016 Issue III

Paper Type: 1. Book chapter/Part chapter 2. Journal paper 3. Conference proceeding 4. Unpublished conference paper 5. Magazine article 6. Unpublished

© Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat / Dasui Wang Talking Tall: Dasui Wang Engineering China’s Skylines Dasui Wang, China Design Master and chief structural engineer for East China Architectural Design Institute (ECADI), is the recipient of the inaugural CITAB - CTBUH China Tall Building Outstanding Achievement Award. Wang has committed his life’s work to designing the structural engineering solutions behind some of China’s and the world’s outstanding tall buildings. His long list of projects includes the Oriental Pearl TV Tower, CCTV New Headquarters, Tianjin International Dasui Wang Financial Center, World Financial Center, and . Wang sat with CTBUH Journal Editor Daniel Safarik to talk about his 52-year career and the Interviewee tremendous amount of change he has seen during this time. Dasui Wang, Chief Engineer East China Architectural Design Institute (ECADI) 151 Hankou Road What do you consider to be your greatest several TV towers under construction at Shanghai 200002 China accomplishment? Tianjin, Liaoning, Wuhan, and Beijing, but they t: +86 21 6321 7420 I don’t know that I can say I have a single were all smaller than the . f: +86 21 6321 4301 e: email 1 great accomplishment, but I think of myself www.ecadi.com as walking along with the development of So this was an unprecedented structure, China. Specifi cally, the last 30 years have meant to be not only a TV tower but a Dasui Wang Dasui Wang is one of China’s foremost thought been a golden period of time in China’s symbol and an observation tower. What leaders on the design and implementation of development. I have been working at ECADI accounted for the tripod-like, ball-and-stick supertall buildings, with experience in both structural engineering and architecture. Wang for 37 years, since 1979. In this period, my design for which it is famous? graduated from in 1964. As colleagues and I really did something for our Originally it was created for broadcasting a Design Master of China and a consultant for ECADI, he is renowned in the fi eld of engineering country. We were lucky to have participated purposes. There was no cable TV back then; design. Currently, he holds the position of Deputy in building most of the important tall only high-frequency transmissions, which Director of the High-Rise Building Committee of the Architectural Society of China. He is a member buildings in China. That is a source of great required height to cover all of the city’s of the Ministry of Construction High-Rise Building pride for me. territory. The location chosen was the Review Committee and an adjunct professor at Tongji University. He has participated in writing and geographic center of Shanghai. reviewing a number of national design specifi cations One of your groundbreaking works was the and codes. Oriental Pearl TV Tower in Shanghai (see The architects proposed the initial formal Figure 1). Can you talk a little about how concept of “Oriental Pearl,” which was based that project came to be? The project is a truly original one for China. ECADI did all of the work independent of the transmission technology. We got the project in 1989, when I was the lead structural engineer. During that period, there were few communications with overseas professional architects. And we had never seen foreign TV towers to use as a reference. There were

Since the economic opening, China has bene“ fi ted from foreign architecture techniques, and has closed the gap with the world. Now that we have the confi dence to execute complex projects, we need to focus on originality in design and innovation. Figure 1. Oriental Pearl TV Tower, Shanghai. ” © Tansri Muliani 48 | Talking Tall: Dasui Wang CTBUH Journal | 2016 Issue III on Shanghai’s central position on China’s What do you think are the greatest coastline and its role as the brightest city of challenges that you have overcome? eastern China. You can see the tower has six I think this is best answered in the context of balls, which the Chinese call mingzhu (pearls). the development progress of China in tall There is an ancient Chinese poem that refers buildings over three decades. In the 1920s to “big and small pearls falling into a jade and 1930s, Shanghai had some tall buildings plate.” We structural engineers made great constructed, like the Park Hotel, and it looked eff orts to realize this concept. In conclusion, like a small Manhattan. But because of World the achievement of the Oriental Pearl Tower is War II and the Chinese Civil War, it all stopped, owed to several architects and structural and most of the work in engineering was in engineers, rather than the work of one person. industry. After the 1970s, as the population increased, we had to consider high-rise There were many proposals, and ECADI residential development. At that time, China presented several of them. The former was a closed-off country without foreign Figure 2. Shanghai World Financial Center, Shanghai. President Jiang Zemin, who was mayor of communication. Chinese engineers had to do © Mori Building Shanghai in 1989, chose this proposal after their own research and development. Before There is still, it seems, a lot of responsibility consulting with the relevant experts’ opinions. 1986, nearly all of the engineering work was that rests with the Chinese design institutes, done domestically. more so than in the West, where the design There is a painting in the China Art Museum, architects often insist on being involved all which features what appears to be Deng The important projects I was involved in at the way through the projects. Do you think Xiaoping looking admiringly out a window that time were the Huating Hotel, 1982–1985, the projects have achieved a higher level of at Oriental Pearl Tower. What is the story and the Huadong Diandi (East China Electrical quality through this more rigid separation of behind that? Power Distribution) building in 1989 – both in duties? Jiang showed Deng Xiaoping a model of the Shanghai. From about 1986, foreign architects Before 1990, we did not have many tall Oriental Pearl, which was highly praised by and engineers began to be involved in buildings in ’s District. Then, Deng. Chinese projects, fi rstly in Shanghai, including Lujiazui became a showcase of China’s the on . Since “opening up,” with a great number of excellent It is impressive that this was at a time when 1990, when Pudong opened to development, tall buildings. These buildings, which Chinese architecture was not as open to more high-level foreign architecture combined foreign technology and Chinese international expertise as it is now. How was companies have been involved. engineers’ skills, are our pride. a feasible concept realized? Most of the tall TV towers around the world What was diff erent about working with Two projects, in particular, impressed me consist of one single tube with cable-stayed those fi rms? deeply. One is the . You can see supports. The Chinese don’t like the cable- The government set relevant policies at that that there are some Chinese elements in the stayed style. They like self-supporting towers. time, which welcomed foreign architects to design. From the structural standpoint, I fi nd Since the design called for a big ball to be put be involved. But another policy was that that an effi cient outrigger system was used. up to 300 meters’ height to accommodate foreign designers could only be involved up tourism needs, a single tube would not be to the concept period. Before the construction The other is Shanghai World Financial Center strong enough to support it. To support the drawing stage, the foreign architects and (see Figure 2). The structural engineer was three vertical tubes and the ball, the inclined, engineers were more involved. And Chinese Leslie Robertson, who is really a genius. He triangulated tubes composed a stable architects and engineers got more involved in was an electrician on an aircraft carrier in structure. The structural concept is very clear. the later stages. We had these policies in World War II. After the war, he came to eff ect for a long time, which I think was the university and fi nally became an excellent It must be satisfying to see the tower right decision. engineer. remains popular to this day. At the same time, considering that there are a The two groups of architects paid attention to Since the opening up, China has benefi ted large number of visitors – about fi ve million a diff erent stages but kept in constant contact, from foreign architecture techniques. year – we need six elevators in those three which was good for Chinese architectural Nowadays, we don’t have a big gap with tubes. Recently, the owner has requested development. We were exposed to new high-level architecture around the world. We more elevators to increase capacity, which is technology and new expression methods, can design all kinds of buildings. Now that we not easy. We are working on developing a both architectural and structural. have the confi dence to do that, we need to feasible plan for them. focus on originality in design and innovation.

CTBUH Journal | 2016 Issue III Talking Tall: Dasui Wang | 49 What interested you in structural helpful that the government ask experts to engineering? peer-review the project. In my teenage period, unlike the students of today, I was happy in my pursuits without For this project, OMA, the architect, and Arup, thinking of the pressure of college entrance the lead engineer, made a lot of contributions. examinations. I studied what interested me. I However, there were still many practical enjoyed doing sports and making models. I problems for us to solve. For example, the also studied engineering because of the huge eccentricity in the structure, the huge demand for it China. They did not separate tall cantilever, and how to keep the fl oor fl at buildings out of building construction as a when the cantilever was completed, how to subject at that time. There was no distinction. manage the high-steel-ratio columns. It was an unforgettable accomplishment that we How did your career develop after fi nally managed to complete the building university? within reasonable cost while ensuring safety. I worked on industrial buildings before I Figure 3. Tianjin World Financial Center, Tianjin. We felt very pleased. committed to structural design. The Socialist © SOM/Tim Griffi th industrialization of China meant that most Engineers (ASCE). This project received the While we are on the subject of extraordinary building tasks were factories. I gained structural category Award of Excellence. buildings like this, what do you think is experience in prefabricated structures at that “weird” architecture? How do you think time. I have been involved in tall buildings What would you want to pass on to the discouraging it will aff ect the industry? since 1980 or 1981. next generation of structural engineers? Since 1957, China has set up a development I don’t think much of the elaborate division policy that emphasized appropriateness for The sheer volume of tall buildings in China of the subjects in higher education. use, low cost, and beauty when applicable. I is overwhelming. There is much creativity Architectural structure or road and bridge agreed with this policy, since it helped show a and much monotony. How do you balance engineering could be integrated into one way out of China’s economic backwardness. the need for creativity and productivity/ area of civil engineering because of the same Of course, things have changed now. accommodation? basic knowledge of mathematics, We have cooperated with foreign architects mechanics, geotechnics, and seismic forces. When Rem Koolhaas spoke at the 2013 for many important tall buildings in China. In CTBUH Awards, accepting for CCTV as Best the process of cooperation, we not only You would encourage the disciplines to Tall Building Worldwide, he said, “This is a transfer the concepts and master plan to interact more, and not to over-specialize? building that could only have been thought construction drawings, but we also optimize Schooling should emphasize big concepts. of in Europe and only built in China.” and deepen the design in consideration of the You can choose diff erent aspects to pursue As China’s development has arrived at a situation in China. when entering your career. And anyway, certain stage, there is an awareness of the people of high capability could do both at need to pursue aesthetics. However, some Now the process seems more interwoven, the same time. My role model – Professor Lin people would consider “strangeness” as which has to be good. Tung Yen – who was a well-known bridge “beauty,” even when the aesthetic level is not As a good example of this, Tianjin World and high-rise building structural engineer, is that high. This situation may depend on the Financial Center (see Figure 3), in which ECADI an excellent example. preference of local leaders or developers collaborated with SOM, is the world’s tallest sometimes. There was a period of time in building to be constructed of steel-plate shear What is the biggest change you have seen which many “strange” or even ugly buildings walls. With such thin plates, we had to over your career, how has that aff ected the were built. But, I think that time has passed, consider the tendency of steel to buckle as shape of the skyline, and how do you feel and China has come to a more rational stage. well as the need to deal with multi-directional about it? The aesthetic level of our nation has improved forces. But it was a very fl exible and effi cient My working platform is ECADI, which means now that developers and the government method, so the overall fi tness of the design I am not alone when facing those challenges. think it is not appropriate to spend too much was increased. We worked on this with For something like the CCTV New to build those strange buildings. Now, China Tsinghua University and did some tests on the Headquarters, I couldn’t evaluate it from an has come out with a modifi ed development issues between shear wall stability and gravity architectural aspect. But, it really brought policy – “appropriate for use, low cost, green, load. That was in 2008. When the tower was great challenges in structural design. Two of and beautiful.” I would say that architectural ultimately built, SOM and ECADI presented my major assistants helped me with this, and development in China took a short detour our design on the annual conference of the they gained important experience from it. before. But now, it is on the right path.  American Society of Structural and Civil For particularly important projects, it is very

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