The Golding Finance 117 Towers has been nicknamed as ‘Walking Stick’ because of its shape and is being constructed in Tianjin’s business district. It is still under construction and when completed will feature 117 stories with mixed use, however, it has already achieved its maximum height of 597 meters on 8th September and thereby securing its position among the world’s tallest skyscrapers.
The Development firm Goldin Properties has claimed to the skyscraper to being the second tallest in the world and tallest in China based on its structural height. This is a controversial claim though; the influential Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat stopped measuring skyscrapers way back in 2009 and opted for the height to architectural top, highest occupied floor and height to the tip.
The Walking Stick would probably lose a few positions owing to this among the world’s tallest towers and might even lose its claim to being the China’s tallest skyscraper in favor of the Shanghai Tower. It isn’t very exciting, architecturally speaking, however, thanks to the diamond shaped glazed upper section that sports a luxury hotel, viewing point, revolving restaurant and a swimming pool brings some life to the design.
The tower’s main body has been earmarked for rented office-space, residential buildings, while villas, a convention center, retail spaces, polo club and an entertainment center have also been scheduled for development. The construction team is aiming for the LEED Platinum (a top green building award) certification, although there isn’t much information about what the team is doing to achieve this target. The tower will open for business sometime in 2016.