Shanghai Tower (Chinese name is 上海中心大厦) is a 128-story, 632-meter-tall (2,073 ft) mega tall skyscraper in the Lujiazui financial center of Shanghai.

As the world’s third-tallest structure, it is a mixed-use building. Like other skyscrapers, it also typically has functions as offices, hotels, and other spaces for tourism, retail, parking, exhibitions, and art shows.

Shanghai Tower was designed by the renowned American Gensler architectural design office. The exterior of the building is in a shape of a spiral Chinese dragon and means the gradual economic prosperity of China. Each layer twists nearly 1 degree as the height increases. This sort of design can effectively lighten the impact of wind, moreover, the spiral shape can also reduce the cost of construction material, reducing the usage amount of steel by 1/4 in comparison to the same size tower with the normal design.

The design of the Shanghai Tower is filled with green elements, and the tower features all-glass façades, which can maximize the natural sunlight through the curtain walls, reducing the reliance on the man-made light source. In consequence, the energy cost and carbon emissions are greatly reduced and very beneficial for the environment of the city. With the super-advanced techniques and design, the Shanghai Tower is praised as a top great “Green Building” worldwide.

The uppermost floors of the tower are served as the obligatory Shanghai attraction – the world’s highest Sightseeing platform, and passengers could take in the world’s fastest lifts (64km/h), designed by Mitsubishi, to get.

Standing by the windows, guests can gaze down on the Jinmao Tower and Shanghai World Financial Center nearby, which are the two other tallest buildings in Shanghai, and was built in 1999 and 2008 respectively. Looking around, they can enjoy the spectacular scenery of the city, the beautiful Huangpu River under their feet, and a bright view of many landmarks in the city such as the historic buildings with different architectural styles along the Bund and the Oriental Pearl Tower.

And you had better visit there during the time of dusk since both the day views and night views can be seen in a single visit.