China's high-speed building boom

In early December, Liu Zhangning was tending her cabbage patch when she saw a tall yellow construction crane in the distance. At night, the work lights made it seem like day.

Fifteen days later, a 30-story hotel towered over her village on the outskirts of the city like a glass and steel obelisk.

"I couldn't really believe it," Liu said. "They built that thing in under a month."

A time-lapse video of the project in Changsha, which shows the prefabricated building being assembled on site, has racked up more than 5 million views on YouTube and left Western architects speechless.

"I've never seen a project go up this fast," said Ryan Smith, an expert on prefabricated architecture at the University of Utah.

In other countries, the most advanced prefab construction methods can reduce building times by a third to half, Smith said. The builders of the Changsha hotel did better, knocking one-half to two-thirds off the normal schedule.

"It's unfathomable," Smith said.

The warp-speed construction is a startling illustration of the building boom in China, where an exodus from the countryside to the cities has swelled the urban population by almost 400 million since 1990.

Click here to read more and to view a time lapse video of the construction. BD+C

Climate change is having a dramatic impact on urban design, in terms of planning, materials, occupant use, location, and the long-term effect of buildings on the environment. Joining BD+C's John Caulfield to discuss this topic are two experts from the Boston-based CBT Architects: Kishore Varanasi, a Principal and director of urban design; and Devanshi Purohit, an Associate Principal.

Multifamily Housing | Jul 14, 2022

Multifamily rents rise again in June, Yardi Matrix reports

Average U.S. multifamily rents rose another $19 in June to edge over $1,700 for the first time ever, according to the latest Yardi® Matrix Multifamily Report.

Building Team | Jul 14, 2022

Austin PBS gets a new state-of-the-art facility with three studios

Since the 1970s, Austin PBS, birthplace of the Austin City Limits TV series, has been based inside the communications building on the University of Texas campus—a space it has long outgrown.

Building Team | Jul 13, 2022

The YIMBY movement emerges as valuable advocate for affordable housing

Over the past few decades, developers grew accustomed to nothing but staunch opposition to dense affordable housing project proposals.

Energy | Jul 13, 2022

Electrification of buildings, new and old, furthers environmental responsibility and equity

It’s almost a cliché in our industry, but nonetheless: The greenest building is the one that is already built.

Building Team | Jul 13, 2022

Austin’s newest entertainment and hospitality complex has been made from repurposed shipping containers

A new entertainment and hospitality complex in Austin, The Pitch, has been made out of repurposed shipping containers.

Codes and Standards | Jul 12, 2022

USGBC sets out principles for LEED’s future

The U.S. Green Building Council recently published a report containing principles outlining how LEED will evolve.

Building Team | Jul 12, 2022

10 resource reduction measures for more efficient and sustainable biopharma facilities

Resource reduction measures are solutions that can lead to lifecycle energy and cost savings for a favorable return on investment while simultaneously improving resiliency and promoting health and wellness in your facility.