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Tower redesigned over flag concerns

Mori Building Co, which is building the world's second-tallest skyscraper in Shanghai, changed the design of the 101-storey tower after Chinese complaints that a circular hole at the top resembled Japan's flag.

The Japanese developer changed the space to a square design in a revamped design for the 492m Shanghai World Financial Center unveiled yesterday. The new design, approved by Shanghai authorities, will be "less costly and quicker to construct," company president Minoru Mori said at a briefing yesterday.

The developer is investing 105 billion yen (US$910 million) to build the tower in a city where protests erupted in April over Japanese text books that critics said glossed over atrocities committed during Japan's 1931-1945 occupation of China. Tensions between the two nations flared again on Monday after Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi visited Tokyo's Yasukuni Shrine, which includes memorials to convicted war criminals.

The Shanghai World Financial Center will be China's tallest building, overshadowing the 88-story Jin Mao Tower that stands on an adjoining plot in Shanghai's Lujiazui financial district, home to institutions such as Citigroup Inc and HSBC Holdings Plc.

Construction of the tower resumed in 2003 after being halted in 1997 because of the Asian financial crisis, which caused funding to dry up as demand for offices slumped. Progress was also stymied by the controversy over the hole, which was likened to the sun motif on the Japanese flag.

Closely held Mori Building earlier modified the design to include an observation deck that cut across the hole, which is designed to relieve wind pressure on the structure.

"The authorities told us there were some concerns about the design," Mori said at yesterday's briefing. "However, we have always been dealing with that pressure and answering that a change in design was not necessary."

The modified design was adopted at the suggestion of the project's architects and not because of the objections, he said.

The tower, scheduled for completion in 2008, will be shorter than the 508m Taipei 101 in Taiwan, which has a 60m ornamental spire. Excluding the spire, the Shanghai skyscraper would be the tallest.

The project will include a shopping mall, 70 floors of offices and a 180-room Park Hyatt hotel. About eight floors have been completed so far.
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