Ping An International Finance Centre
The Ping An Finance Center, also known as "The Ping An International Finance Center" (Chinese: 平安金融中心; pinyin: píng'ān jīnróng zhōngxīn; Jyutping: ping4ngon1 gam1jung4 zung1sam1; lit. 'Ping An Finance Centre') is a 115-storey, 599.1 m (1,966 ft) supertall skyscraper in Shenzhen, Guangdong, China.[7] The building was commissioned by Ping An Insurance and designed by the American architectural firm Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates. It was completed in 2017,[1] becoming the tallest building in Shenzhen, the 2nd tallest building in China and the 5th tallest building in the world.[8][2] It also broke the record of having the highest observation deck in a building at 562.1 m (1,844 ft).[9] It is the second largest skyscraper in the world by floor area after Azabudai Hills Main Tower in Tokyo, Japan.
Ping An Finance Centre Chinese: 平安金融中心; pinyin: píng'ān jīnróng zhōngxīn | |||||||||||
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![]() The Ping An Finance Centre in December 2020 | |||||||||||
General information | |||||||||||
Status | Completed | ||||||||||
Type | Dining, observation, offices, shopping mall | ||||||||||
Location | 5033 Yitian Road, Futian District, Shenzhen, Guangdong, China | ||||||||||
Coordinates | 22.536399°N 114.050446°E | ||||||||||
Groundbreaking | 29 August 2009 | ||||||||||
Construction started | 18 January 2010[1] | ||||||||||
Completed | 28 March 2017[1] | ||||||||||
Cost | $1.5 billion (USD, estimated)[2] | ||||||||||
Owner | Ping An Life Insurance Company of China[1] | ||||||||||
Height | |||||||||||
Architectural | 599.1 m (1,966 ft) | ||||||||||
Top floor | 555.1 m (1,821 ft)[1] | ||||||||||
Observatory | 562.1 m (1,844 ft) | ||||||||||
Technical details | |||||||||||
Floor count | 115 above ground levels floor, and there is also that plus the another 5 below basements ground levels floor were added[1] | ||||||||||
Floor area | 459,187 m2 (4,942,650 sq ft) [1] | ||||||||||
Lifts/elevators | 80[1][3] | ||||||||||
Design and construction | |||||||||||
Architect(s) | Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates[4] | ||||||||||
Developer | Ping An Life Insurance Company of China[1] | ||||||||||
Engineer | J. Roger Preston, Limited (MEP)[5] | ||||||||||
Structural engineer | Thornton Tomasetti[6] | ||||||||||
Main contractor | China Construction First Building Group[1] | ||||||||||
Chinese name | |||||||||||
Simplified Chinese | 平安金融中心 | ||||||||||
Traditional Chinese | 平安金融中心 | ||||||||||
Literal meaning | Ping An Finance Centre | ||||||||||
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Progress

The Ping An International Finance Center building structure is located within the Central Business District of Shenzhen in Futian. Its 18,931 m2 lot was purchased by Ping An Group via auction at a price of 1.6568 billion RMB on November 6, 2007. Design of the building began in 2008 with Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates providing the architectural design and Thornton Tomasetti providing structural design.[2] Its foundation stone was laid on August 29, 2009, and construction started in November the same year. China Construction First Building Group was hired as the general contractor to construct the building.[2]
On 15 March, 2013, the construction process work was temporarily halted on that day due to the suspected use of concrete made with unprocessed sea sand, which could corrode the steel structure. The construction work process was resumed on the building after sample testing.
On the morning of 15 July, 2014, upon a 10-meter-long steel column being lifted to place, the skyscraper exceeded 443.8 meters in height, surpassing the KK100 Tower to become the tallest building in Shenzhen.
The building was topped out on 30 April, 2015, and became the second tallest skyscraper in China at a height of 599.1 meters. The original plan was to add a 60-meter-long antenna atop the building to surpass the Shanghai Tower and become the tallest building in China. However, in February 2015, it was decided that the antenna would not top the tower due to the possibility that it might disrupt flights that may fly over the roof in the sky.[10][11][12]
Features
The Ping An International Finance Center building structure contains office, hotel and retail spaces, a conference center, and a high-end shopping mall. An observation deck named Free Sky is located on floor 116.[13] As its name suggests, it is also the headquarters of Ping An Insurance. The design of the building is meant to be unique and elegant, and to represent the history and achievements of the main tenant. A stainless-steel facade that weighs approximately 1,700 metric tons provides a modern design to the building.[2]
The Ping An International Finance Center building structure has a gross floor area of 378,600 m2. The 115-storey tower has a width-to-height aspect ratio of 1:10 and also has an 11-story podium. Including the podium, the building has 495,520 m2 of floor space. A five-level basement adds 90,000 m2. The 620,000 metric ton tower has eight main columns which form the superstructure. The column dimensions range from approximately 6 by 3.2 m at the lowest level to 2.9 by 1.4 m at the top of the tower.[2]
Elevators
The Ping An International Finance Center building structure that there is equipped with the 33 double deck elevators,[3] travelling to at maximum speeds of up to the 10 m/s of the fastest speed of those double deck elevators.
Climbing attempts
The Ping An International Financial Center building structure has been the subject of frequent rooftopping attempts. In January 2015, daredevil Malaysian photographer Keow Wee Loong climbed the then incomplete building and released video footage and a photo taken from a crane at the tower's top.[14][15][16]
The Ping An International Financial Center building structure was continuously and subsequently be climbed during the holidays period of the Chinese New Year on 19 February, 2015 by the two Russian and Ukrainian urban explorers, Vadim Makhorov and Vitaly Raskalov from Ontheroofs, who further climbed out to a crane above the under-construction tower and documented their ascent with video and photos.[17][18][19]
Phase 2
The second building of the project, a 290-metre, 47-story skyscraper known as the South Tower, has been completed. Construction began in April 2014 and it opened in 2018/19. The complex includes a 5-star Park Hyatt hotel, a planned retail bridge connecting the two skyscrapers from levels 3 through 6.[20]
Current status
Low occupancy
According to South China Morning Post, almost 30 percent of the office space remained empty in the second quarter of 2019.[21]
Gallery
- Ping An Finance Centre, Shenzhen
- June 2013
- December 2013
- December 2014
- May 2015
- August 2015
- September 2015
- March 2016
- November 2016
- The Skyline of Shenzhen, the tallest building in the middle being Ping An IFC
- View of Shenzhen from the top of PAFC Tower
- Ping An Finance Centre shown from the top of Shun Hing Square
See also

References
- "Ping An Finance Center". CTBUH. Archived from the original on 30 December 2013. Retrieved 12 May 2013.
- Poon, Dennis C.K.; Gottlebe, Torsten G. (December 2017). "Sky High in Shenzhen". Civil Engineering. Reston, Virginia: American Society of Civil Engineers. 87 (12): 48–53. Archived from the original on 17 December 2017.
- "Schindler to equip China's tallest building". Schindler. 7 January 2014. Retrieved 7 January 2014.
- "Ping An Finance Center". Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates. Archived from the original on 15 October 2014. Retrieved 16 May 2013.
- "Ping an Finance Center - the Skyscraper Center".
- "Ping An International Finance Center". Thornton Tomasetti. Archived from the original on 18 February 2017. Retrieved 8 October 2010.
- "Ping An Finance Center - The Skyscraper Center". www.skyscrapercenter.com. Retrieved 14 November 2020.
- "Work on China's 838-meter high 'Sky City' starts". Emirates 24/7. 23 July 2013. Retrieved 24 July 2013.
- ctbuh. "World's Highest Observation Decks". www.ctbuh.org. Archived from the original on 28 October 2018. Retrieved 28 October 2018.
- "平安国际金融中心成深圳最高楼 年底将成世界第二". Archived from the original on 2 June 2016. Retrieved 6 May 2016.
- "深圳平安金融中心". Retrieved 6 May 2016.
- "深圳第一高楼平安国际金融中心封顶 高度超过600米". Retrieved 6 May 2016.
- "Ping An Finance Center facts and information". The Tower Info. Retrieved 28 September 2018.
- "Climbing Ping an financial center 660meters youtube video". Keow wee Loong. 27 February 2015.
- "Malaysian rooftopper hates to be called Spiderman – Nation – The Star Online". thestar.com.my.
- "WATCH: Don't Look Down: Terrifying View from World's Second Tallest Building". yahoo.com. 3 March 2015.
- on the roofs (8 May 2015). "Shenzhen Center (660 meters)". Archived from the original on 20 December 2021 – via YouTube.
- "Climbing the Shenzhen Finance Center ontheroofs story with photos and video". Ontheroofs. 8 May 2015. Archived from the original on 11 October 2016.
- Chan, Casey. "Watching these guys climb a 2165-foot tall tower made my nerves go crazy". Sploid. Archived from the original on 13 May 2015. Retrieved 11 May 2015.
- "Ping An Finance Center: Pioneering China's Tallest – Efficiencies of Forms and Structures". CTBUH. Archived from the original on 18 August 2013. Retrieved 12 May 2013.
- Liu, Pearl (10 December 2019). "China's skyscraper developers have to pay for their vanity as the frenzy to scale new heights lead to record-breaking vacancies". South China Morning Post. Retrieved 23 February 2021. (Subscription required.)
External links
