ABSTRACT
By 2030 the World Green Building Council has put forth a challenge that all buildings shall be designed for net zero operational carbon and by 2050 net zero embodied carbon. The construction of the Jin Mao Tower 20 years ago was unique for several reasons and ideas have resulted in progress toward those goals. At the time, it was the tallest building in China, one that resulted in re-writing the Chinese code for wind and seismic engineering but perhaps most importantly inspired the design of other buildings that would incorporate resilient systems. These systems have been designed based on a platform of thinking related to life-cycle engineering and minimal impact on the environment. Clearly conceived efficient tall building structural systems based on mega-columns interconnected with cores, friction-fused seismic systems, the application of optimization theories, and the considerations of carbon in construction were all influenced by the design of the Jin Mao Tower. The paper and presentation will focus from research to build work that incorporate these ideas with visions of future opportunities. Project examples from around the world will be highlighted including the Jin Mao Tower – Shanghai, the Tianjin World Financial Headquarters, the Huawei Headquarters, the Poly Beijing Headquarters, Beijing Finance Street among others. Techniques of calculating carbon will be discussed and ideas for the future contemplated considering machine learning and self-sustainability.
