I just watched a documentary on this tower being designed and built ... woooo! I found out I can get vertigo from images on a large screen TV. An amazing country China, we go on about poor quality in many of our motorbikes yet the Chinese can go into space and also successfully build such designs as this.
One thing it shows for me is that co-operation internationally (not just theft of designs) leads to superb creations. I hope this will be the future my children grow to see and enjoy instead of the image some politicians still put forward of hordes of Chinese invading the rest of the world ...
My thinking is that ALL human endeavour is built on previous experience, and except when the Romans burnt libraries and razed cities and societies to dust or when plagues swept half the world or volcanic ash caused century long weather changes, our history as a human race is an amalgam and blend of art and science with cross-cultural exchange being a major catalyst. This balances to a small extent the wickedness of war and the destruction that brings. Rigid ownership of ideas should not in the end be justified except that it allows the short-term gathering and control of resources toward an end. Market forces, yes, aspiration also.
In this case, millions of tons of steel and concrete shape a true wonder. It could be said that the same resources would have built many dams for water, levy banks against flood, proofing against earthquakes and so on for the general populace, however such a tower also aids in keeping information flowing at all times including disasters.
The Chinese Universities did the engineering modelling against cyclones and earthquakes, well they have to live with it after all. If they can do that, one day maybe our little china-bikes will also evolve! I wish I had another lifetime to live in to watch all this unfolding - if the wars already going don't spread and wipe us all out, if food and resources are somehow kept available for our populations, this century will be a wonder to experience as the globe becomes one living entity.
年年有餘
02-10-2011, 12:13 PM
euphonius
Re: Guangzhou Ta
I've been in China far longer than I care to admit, but I've never heard of this Guangzhou Tower.
Links?
cheers!
02-10-2011, 05:04 PM
richardktm
3 Attachment(s)
Re: Guangzhou Ta
hey guys, this thing is a really cool building and is lit up with awesome lights at night..my gf lives in Guangzhuo so i got to see it before the opening ceromony for the asian games a few months ago.. any city with a big river running through it is ok in my book:icon10: lots of cool bars and places to eat nearby.. the chinese name for the TV tower is "the girls Waist":lol8: good job they didn't build it in england.. it would have muffin tops hahaAttachment 3151Attachment 3150Attachment 3152http://www.mychinamoto.com/forums/im...isc/pencil.png
02-10-2011, 11:42 PM
Barry
Re: Guangzhou Ta
I was in Guangzhou, Macau and Wuzhou during the CNY. I saw this thing from a distance, didn't impress me. Same as SH just a different shape, been there done that is what I thought!
02-11-2011, 12:19 AM
jape
Re: Guangzhou Ta
Philistine! You missed my point. Not to worry, all opinions welcomed.
02-11-2011, 02:54 AM
euphonius
Re: Guangzhou Ta
Jape, what was the doc you saw and is there anyplace to see it online?
Speaking of marvels of construction, did anyone click on this item in gizmag? (Mainland denizens will need a proxy tunnel, vpn or other grandma-flanker.)
Despite lots of scary buildings and crap construction and virtually non-existent maintenance, China is getting very good at certain kinds of construction. But this approach takes a qualitative leap into another realm altogether. Are there companies elsewhere that build buildings this way? I'm no engineer, but this strikes me as pretty amazing.
cheers
02-11-2011, 03:21 AM
jape
Re: Guangzhou Ta
I know you can't get the youtube tags working so what I did Jeff, for this youtube clip, is cut the letter code, nothing else, from the youtube video information, selected it and clicked on advanced settings/youtube which put the correct tags round it. Here's some more: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6XKc7-aBy2w
The making of World's Tallest TV tower
At 600m high the Guangzhou Sightseeing and TV Tower is the tallest television tower on earth and among the world's top ten tallest buildings. Tough enough to withstand typhoon, earthquake and other assaults from Mother Nature, this elegant building forced a rewrite of the rule books. A deceptively simple twist in the middle of the main 450m tower sets this super tall building in a mega class of its own and, proves a test of massive proportions for the team responsible for breathing life into the vision of Dutch architects Mark Hemel and Barbara Kuit.
Director: Jayschree Panjabi
Duration: 1 hour
Production Deal: Co-production with National Geographic Channels International and China Intercontinental Communications Center
02-11-2011, 03:39 AM
CrazyCarl
Re: Guangzhou Ta
Ahhh yes.. Tron land!
CC
02-11-2011, 03:53 AM
euphonius
Re: Guangzhou Ta
Very glad that Guangzhou Tower did not melt down in flames like the CCTV Mandarin Oriental Hotel did 2 years ago. Impressive high-tech choreography, but I'd give them low marks for artistic value. Music was bombastic and awful.
cheers
02-11-2011, 04:05 AM
jape
Re: Guangzhou Ta
sorry, didn't even watch it with sound enabled, just posted it while I went looking for the Megastructures documentary torrent, which so far i only found in CZ
02-11-2011, 04:29 AM
jape
Re: Guangzhou Ta
That gizmag video is impressive! I know the TV tower is not the biggest or best in the world, however it still amazed me. I used to build houses so despite all the planning, team-work and money and modern technology, I certainly appreciate how incredible all these buildings are. West meets east is working in these examples at least.
