Engineering the China Zun

The structural engineering of China Zun is a unique challenge in many aspects. Located in Beijing, the 528m office tower will be the tallest building in high seismic zones around the world. The enlarged top portion imposes difficulties never seen before in buildings of similar height. The shape and the functions of the building were adjusted many times and digitalized parametric design helped engineers to evaluate the structure performance and provide quantitative feedback in very short time. The high efficient structure is composed of a mega braced frame and a central concrete core. Composite members are widely used to obtain the best balance of seismic performance and cost, thanks to the experiences accumulated in the emerging tall building projects in China in recent 20 years. Although located in a very congested site the overall construction of the tower takes only five years and is expected to finish at the end of 2018.

Bio : Dr. Peng Liu is a director with Arup who leads Arup Beijing office. He has substantial experiences in tall building design, seismic design and China projects. He has been responsible for or involved in structural design of many projects in mainland China and Hong Kong, including Beijing CITIC Tower(“China Zun”) (528m), Beijing CBD Z6 Tower (408m), Beijing China World Tower 3A (330m) and 3B (288m), Beijing Fortune Plaza complex (max 260m), Tianjin Goldin 117 Tower (597m), Tianjin Kerry Center (333m), CCTV New Headquarters, Beijing National Stadium (“Bird’s nest”), Beijing Capital airport terminal 3, Hong Kong ICC (497m) etc. He is also the specialist in design automation and structural optimisation in Arup East Asian region, responsible for the relevant studies for a number of signature Arup projects and providing external value engineering services. He is a member of following professional associations : Institution of Structural Engineers, Hong Kong Institution of Engineers, City leader CTBUH.