Chengdu's New Century Global Center, will be the world's largest freestanding building. CNN reports that the building will be 500 meters long, 400 meters wide and 100 meters high.
The building will be "capable of housing 20 Sydney Opera houses and almost three times the size of the Pentagon in Washington, D.C."
The Global Center has an ocean theme and will house a 5,000 square-meter artificial beach with a seafront promenade and artificial sun. It will also be home to offices, theatres, hotels, shopping malls and even a fake Mediterranean village.
"This is an ocean city built by man," said guide Liu Xun to the AFP. "There will be 1,000 rooms (in the hotel) and all will have seaside views.
We have borrowed a Japanese technique. There will be an artificial sun that will shine 24 hours a day and allow for a comfortable temperature," Liu said. The system uses specialised lighting technology that heats as well as illuminates.
The building is set to open next April. An unnamed officer from the Exhibition and Travel Group said to Sichuan Daily, "The building will shoulder key responsibilities in the Fortune Global Forum and World Chinese Entrepreneurs Convention, which are to be held in Chengdu next year."
The exterior of the building is near completion and workers are rushing to finish up to host a June 2013 international forum that will be hosted by Fortune magazine, reported AFP. China's incoming president, Xi Jinping, is expected to attend the forum.
Across the way from the giant building another big building is in the works-the Chengdu Contemporary Arts Centre designed by British-Iraqi architect, Zaha Hadid. It will have an opera house, museum and theatre in the Arts Centre.
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