Jin Mao Tower, Shanghai, China, Perspective

Architecture and Design

1993–1998

Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (American, founded 1936)
Adrian D. Smith (American, born 1944)

The Jin Mao Tower is part of the first generation of supertall buildings in Asia, which often looked to traditional Chinese architecture and numerology for design inspiration. One of the most interesting features of the Jin Mao Tower is its incorporation of two different floor plans—a central elevator bank for the first 50 floors and a dramatic 30-story open atrium for the Shanghai Grand Hyatt in the upper floors, which provides a signature image for this building that draws on the hotel chain’s legacy of iconic atrium lobbies by John Portman. Adrian Smith has been responsible for designing many record-breaking tall buildings, including the current world’s tallest structure—the half-mile-high Burj Khalifa in Dubai, completed in 2010.

Status: Currently Off View
Department: Architecture and Design

Artist: Adrian D. Smith (Architect)
Title: Jin Mao Tower, Shanghai, China, Perspective
Place: Shanghai (Building address)
Date Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.: 1993–1998
Medium: Ink on yellow tracing paper
Dimensions: 38 × 33 cm (15 × 13 in.)
Credit Line: Gift of Skidmore, Owings and Merrill
Reference Number: 2005.612.1

Rethinking Typologies: Architecture and Design from the Permanent Collection
Galleries 283–285
March 3–July 29, 2012

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