Shanghai Tower

Construction & Development

Rising to new heights with BIM.
Co., Ltd.
Shanghai Tower owner champions BIM
Customer Success Story
for design and construction of one of the
Project Team world’s tallest (and greenest) buildings.
Gensler
Thornton Tomasetti
Cosentini Associates
Architectural Design and Research
Institute of Tongji University
Shanghai Xiandai Engineering
Consultants Co., Ltd.
Shanghai Construction
Group Shanghai Installation
Engineering Engineering Co., Ltd.
Autodesk Consulting

Autodesk® Revit®
Autodesk® Navisworks® Manage
Autodesk® Ecotect® Analysis
AutoCAD®

Autodesk BIM solutions

enable the different
design disciplines to Image courtesy of Shanghai Tower Construction and Development Co., Ltd. Rendering by Gensler.
work together in a
seamless fashion on a Project Summary
A striking new addition to the Shanghai skyline is
gain, and the spiralling nature of the outer façade
maximises daylighting and views whilst reducing
single information currently rising in the heart of the city’s financial wind loads and conserving construction materials.
platform—improving district. The super high-rise Shanghai Tower will To save energy, the facility includes its own wind
soon stand as the world’s second tallest building, farm and geothermal system. In addition, rainwater
efficiency, reducing and adjacent to two other iconic structures, the recovery and grey water recycling systems reduce
errors, and improving Jin Mao Tower and the Shanghai World Financial water usage. The owner and design team are
targeting a LEED® Gold rating and a China 3 Star
both project and Center. The 121-story transparent glass tower will
twist and taper as it rises, conveying a unique rating―ambitious goals for a project the size of
building performance. feeling of movement and growth, whilst reflecting the Shanghai Tower.
the re-emergence of Shanghai’s economic and cultural
—Jianping Gu influences amid the rise of an increasingly modern China. The Challenge
Director and General Manager The massive mixed-use facility will include commercial The sheer size of the Shanghai Tower presents
Shanghai Tower Construction and retail space; entertainment and cultural venues; a complex design and construction management
& Development Co., Ltd. conference centre; a luxury hotel; and public gardens, all challenges. “The Shanghai Tower is a massive
evoking the sense of a self-contained city within Shanghai. project with over 575,000 square meters of building
space,” says Jianping Gu, director and general
Once complete, the 632-meter Shanghai Tower manager for Shanghai Tower Construction &
will be the largest skyscraper in China as well as Development Co., Ltd., the tower’s owner/developer.
one of the most sustainable. The towering “We knew that if we tried to work in a traditional
skyscraper comprises nine cylindrical buildings way, using traditional tools and delivery systems, it
stacked on top of one another, all enclosed by a would be extremely difficult to carry out this project
circular inner curtain wall and a triangular facade successfully.”
enveloping the entire structure. Each vertical
neighborhood has its own atrium, featuring a
public sky garden, together with cafes, restaurants,
and retail space. The double-skinned facade
creates a thermal buffer zone to minimise heat
Reducing Building Materials by 32 Percent.

The project involves the collaboration of a global Transforming Work Processes

team, including: Early on, the owner engaged Autodesk Consulting
• Shanghai Tower Construction & Development— to provide BIM strategy and implementation Autodesk Revit provided
owner/developer consulting services, as well as application training. a common platform for
• Gensler—design architect Autodesk Consulting began its effort by helping
• Architectural Design and Research Institute of the owner develop a BIM strategy and our design partners,
Tongji University—local design institute deployment plan for the project, and re-tooling giving the team a more
• Thornton Tomasetti—structural engineer
• Cosentini Associates—MEP engineer
design and construction workflows to support
BIM-based processes. The team created detailed
accurate representation
• Shanghai Construction Group—general contractor plans for project collaboration and document and deeper understanding
• Shanghai Installation Engineering—mechanical and
electrical general contractor
management, as well as defining the BIM of the project.
deliverables for the entire project lifecycle.
• Shanghai Xiandai Engineering Consultants—design
—Jun Xia
management consultant Autodesk Consulting also helped the owner
• Autodesk Consulting—BIM strategy, training, and
Principal and
implement an on-site BIM application Regional Design Director
implementation consultant environment for a local project team of over Gensler
50 members, including owner personnel and
“Because Shanghai Tower is such a complex key project participants from the extended
building, it could not be represented accurately global project team. In addition, Autodesk
with typical software or design methods,” says Consulting provided software training and
Jiliang Chen, deputy chief architect and deputy ongoing technical and BIM coaching support. “We used Revit Architecture software to design
director of the project operations department at “By combining Autodesk’s BIM technology and model the tower, and then shared those
the Architectural Design and Research Institute and the deep expertise of Autodesk models with our mechanical, electrical, and
of Tongji University. “One of the most Consulting, we have been able to structural consultants,” explains Michael Peng,
challenging issues is the coordination of the successfully transition to BIM much faster. associate senior designer at Gensler. “Autodesk
extended design team,” adds Yi Zhu, senior As a result, this project has set new Revit provided a common platform for our
principal and general manager at Thornton standards for the information management design partners, giving the team a more
Tomasetti. of construction projects in China,” says Gu. accurate representation, and deeper
understanding of the project,” adds Jun Xia,
The Solution Integrating the Design principal and regional design director at Gensler.
To help meet the ambitious goals set for the The extended architectural and structural teams— “BIM accelerated our whole design process,
building, the Shanghai Tower owner required the with designers in offices around the world—shared enabling our engineers to access design data
implementation of a Building Information Modelling their design models, enabling them to collaborate and geometric sizes directly from the building
(BIM) process using Autodesk BIM solutions for the and contribute insights about the design in the models, and to use that information for
design and construction of the Shanghai Tower. The context of the project. In the construction phase, the calculation and analysis,” says Zhu.
project team relies on a combination of Autodesk® local project team, working from temporary offices
Revit® Architecture, Autodesk® Revit® Structure, and near the construction site, routinely shared its
Autodesk® Revit® MEP software for the tower’s models for project coordination and collaboration.
design and documentation. The team is also using This communication of design data resulted in a
Autodesk® Navisworks® Manage software for natural coordination of the project as it unfolded. In
coordination and collaboration, Autodesk® Ecotect® addition, the team used both Revit and Navisworks
Analysis software for sustainable design analysis, Manage software for formal clash detection.
and traditional AutoCAD® software for drawing
production. “From a property owner’s perspective,
BIM provides an excellent tool for the design,
construction, management, and investment control
of the entire project,” says Gu.
 Image courtesy of Shanghai
Tower Construction and
Development Co., Ltd.
Rendering by Gensler.

Improving Design Communication Enhancing Coordination for whole-building energy analysis, giving the
The tower’s iconic twisting shape and dual-skinned The project team used the Revit platform for early designers quantitative feedback on building energy
facade were extremely difficult to convey using coordination of the major design disciplines. In the performance. “We shared this information with our
traditional 2D approaches, making model-based construction phase, the team is combining the owners and consultants to better inform our design
design vital for the project’s success. “BIM helped us Revit design models and the fabrication models decisions and trade-offs,” says Peng.
visualise the tower in 3D and analyse the design for in Navisworks for whole project coordination. “As
improved decision making,” says Xia. “For example, construction proceeds, BIM is helping us coordinate Saving Building Materials
we used the Revit design model with the reflection the subcontractors’ fabrication models, leading to a The building shape itself will produce the largest
analysis features of Ecotect software to analyse the better quality design and the avoidance of rework energy savings in the form of an efficient, cost-
glare from the tower throughout the city. This helped costs,” says Chen. effective structural frame. “Using Revit Structure,
the design team optimise the outer curtain wall— we produced more than 20 design options before
even down to the position and angle of individual “For example, the tower’s basement has already been settling on a structural system of super-columns,
pieces of glass—to minimise light pollution.” built, and comprises five stories and 170,000 square with outrigger trusses supported by an inner
meters of space,” says Gu. “During design development, concrete tower,” says Zhu.
“During design, BIM was indispensable for we found only seven clashes. During construction, there
coordinating the major design disciplines and were no clashes at all. It would be very difficult if not The team kept iterating the design, including the
producing construction documentation,” reports Chen. impossible to get results like that without BIM.” rotation angle of the building’s cam-shaped outer
Model-based visualisations will also aid in the skin, to analyse the structure’s resistance to wind
construction process. “By visualising a 3D virtual Conserving More Energy and seismic loads. The result was well worth the
building, we can better monitor construction and A central and attractive feature of the tower’s effort. Gensler estimates that the building uses 32
gauge our progress against the schedule,” says design is its transparent skin, which creates percent less material than a conventional tower—
Xiaoming Yu, deputy chief engineer and design ventilated atriums that naturally conserve energy by saving material costs as well as the energy required
supervision department manager for Shanghai moderating the atrium’s air temperature. “Green to manufacture more steel and concrete.
Installation Engineering. “In fact, we require BIM building and sustainable design were a common goal
deliverables from all the subcontractors and for the designers, as well as the property owner,”
equipment suppliers. And during construction, it will says Xia. “Model-based design was essential, as many
be much easier for the workers to understand aspects of our performance-based design were
construction drawings that contain a combination of realised through simulations and analyses,” adds
traditional views such as plans and sections, as well as Peng. For example, during the design phase, the
3D views and visualisations of complicated areas.” project team used the Revit Architecture model
Extending the Value of BIM for Building Lifecycle Management.

Improving Construction Efficiency Extending BIM to Lifecycle Management

Both the tower’s owner and its construction Even after construction is complete, BIM will still
partners are requiring BIM models from all the play a vital role for the Shanghai Tower. Shanghai
project’s subcontractors to aid in construction Tower Construction & Development plans on using
coordination, planning, and digital fabrication. BIM for the facility’s ongoing operations and
As an additional service, Autodesk Consulting maintenance, as well as for emergency and property
also developed BIM submittal requirements for management. At the onset of its engagement,
the owner—including the level of model detail Autodesk Consulting created plans that detailed the
required for coordination and construction as-built information and models that the owner will
planning—which were incorporated into require for the tower’s lifecycle management. “We
requests for proposals for the Shanghai Tower. plan to extend the value of BIM to help our facility
management staff plan efficiently and manage the
“By re-purposing the design team’s digital building scientifically,” reports Gu.
building models for fabrication, and in turn
using the subcontractors’ fabrication models The Result
for coordination, we are improving With approximately 48 floors of the building’s core
construction efficiency and reducing on-site completed in 2011, the Shanghai Tower is on
rework and materials waste,” says Yu. “All the schedule for occupancy in 2014. “BIM helped our
materials we use on-site are semi-finished and team produce a high-quality project and avoid
ready for installation. The fabrication has many on-site changes, which would waste time,
already been done in the factories, which materials, and manpower,” says Gu. “Autodesk
greatly improves our efficiency.” BIM solutions enable the different design
disciplines to work together in a seamless fashion
on a single information platform—boosting work
efficiency, reducing errors, and improving both
project and building performance.”

For more information, visit

www.autodesk.com/bim.

From a property owner’s perspective, BIM provides an

excellent tool for the design, construction, management,
and investment control of the entire project.
—Jianping Gu
Director and General Manager
Shanghai Tower Construction & Development Co., Ltd.

Image courtesy of Shanghai Tower Construction and Development Co., Ltd. Rendering by Gensler.

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