pre-fab skyscrapers - including time-lapse video
This spring, a Chinese construction company will build the world's tallest building, using prefabricated modular technology, in 90 DAYS! (gizmodo.com)
It's name is Sky City. It'll be 2,749 feet tall and 220 floors, and built in ninety days..
Let's look at some details:
Here is the Burj Khalifa in Dubai, currently the world's tallest building at 2,719 feet (including the gigantic spire at the top.)
Here's how much taller the Burj is than other skyscrapers from around the world.
Sky City will be taller than the Burj, and without a spire. Wow.
The Burj Khalifa cost $15,000 per square meter to build, which equates to $1,394 per square foot. That sounds about right - architects, engineers, planning, zoning, steel, glass, concrete.. I'd expect the tallest luxury skyscraper in the world to cost a lot more than building a house.
Sky City, on the other hand, will cost only $1,500 per square meter to build. ($139 per square foot.) What?! How?!
220,000 tons of steel. 104 high-speed elevators. 4-pane glass windows. Extreme energy efficiency. Housing for 31,400 people. Offices, schools, hospitals, shops, restaurants. Basically, they're building a small city for the same money it costs to build a house!
Enter prefabricated modular technology. Here's a time-lapse video showing the same company, using the same technology, constructing a 30-story building in 15 days.
The video loops through twice - you can stop it at the 2:45 mark. Also, here's the link - embeded videos don't always pass through feedreaders and emails..
I'm interested to see how this technology impacts the construction industry over the next decade. Faster build times, more precision, better insulation and efficiency, lower costs... All good things.
-Chris Butterworth
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