Chicago’s new downtown apartment towers are rising toward their full height at a rapid pace – a floor every three days in some instances. Once these towers are topped out, however, another six months or more will be required to make them ready for occupancy.
We recently learned, via Gizmodo, of a 30-story hotel in the Hunan Province of China that was completed and nearly ready for guests in just 15 days. The foundation had already been poured and the tower crane was in place before the 360-hour clock began ticking toward completion.
Watch the time-lapse video, be amazed and read more about the technology at Gizmodo.
I’m curious how these quickly built buildings will age. 20-30 years from now will they be looked back upon as models of efficiency that changed building buildings forever, or will they falling down death traps? I’d hate for a catastrophic design flaw to be discovered in this method 5 years down the road.