More than 30000 floor tiles are different from each other, Shanghai Century Plaza updates and reveals highlights: "Kaleidoscope Curtain Wall", the world's only stainless steel | Century | Plaza
Shanghai Century Plaza, located at the core of Nanjing Road Walkway, is undergoing intensive renovation and renovation. It will be opened to the public as a new landmark of Shanghai and the "Shanghai City Reception Hall" before the end of this year. What are the highlights of the renovated Century Square? On August 1st, at the Huangpu Special Session of the "High quality Development in Shencheng" series of municipal government press conferences, relevant leaders of Huangpu District and chief experts of the Century Square renovation project revealed secrets to reporters.
"Magic kaleidoscope" and "versatile framing"
"The renovation and renewal project of Century Plaza is a key construction project in Shanghai and Huangpu District. Upon completion, it will play a leading role in driving the transformation and quality improvement of the plaza surrounding, especially the Nanjing Road Walkway. This renovation project includes the renovation and renewal of Century Plaza, as well as the functional transformation, business type improvement and form transformation of the commercial entities around the plaza. According to the work requirements of" striving to create an important landmark that highlights Shanghai style business culture and leads urban fashion consumption ", we will focus on innovation and breakthrough, and focus on business type integration." Guan Jianwei, head of the Major Office of Huangpu District, introduced.
The conceptual design work for the renovation of Century Square started in December 2019. After multiple comparisons and approvals, the final design plan for the domestic and foreign design teams was determined - "Pearl Kaleidoscope, Urban Reception Hall".
"The design imagery is to transform the image of Century Square into a shining shell, paying tribute to the regional and historical characteristics of Shanghai as a typical waterfront city. According to the design plan, the project will use architectural vocabulary such as stainless steel mirror main buildings, green hills, and pearl shaped square flooring to transform Century Square into a 'magical kaleidoscope' of the city, ultimately presenting the intersection of the square's' magical kaleidoscope 'and the north side building facade's' versatile framing frame'."
The renovated Century Square will introduce a new feature of "new product debut, internet celebrity check-in spot", incorporating cutting-edge high-tech release technology, adopting avant-garde performance forms, and adding new eye-catching points to the fashion city through trendy release methods.
At the same time, the commercial renovation project on the north side of Century Square will also be adjusted and upgraded. Among them, Shen Dacheng, Zhenlaodafang, Sanyang Nanhuodian and other time-honored stores will be revitalized, and help lead the upgrading of traditional old stores in Century Plaza by focusing on time-honored brands and new China-Chic; The project at 626-636 Nanjing East Road will aim to create an "immersive cultural and commercial complex" in the future, introducing immersive food collections such as specialty restaurants and themed restaurants, as well as cultural experiences such as museums; The project at 558 Nanjing East Road will aim to create a curatorial and artistic space, showcasing a new business model for brand launch, trend display, flash events, and more, with the goal of creating a curatorial and comprehensive commercial complex.
When the renovation of Century Square enters the critical stage
The most concerning aspect of the Century Square renovation project is how the Century Square, which carries the memories of Shanghai people, will change. According to the introduction, two major highlights will be presented after the update.
A major highlight is the laying of square bricks. "The total square meters of square bricks are 3553 square meters, divided into 34518 small bricks, each with a different color and shape, to form a picture of pearl oysters." Guan Jianwei said.
According to the requirements of the ground paving design, the construction unit conducted a comprehensive comparison in terms of appearance, durability, cost-effectiveness, and other aspects. The best product was selected for the project comparison to ensure the transportation and supply of materials. During the construction and laying process, the entire paving site is subdivided into 150 sections. According to the on-site construction conditions, the paving sequence is adjusted at any time to present a blue tone irregular halo effect, truly reflecting the original design of the square's color map floor tile paving and simulating the effect of an open pearl oyster.
Another highlight is the construction of mirrored stainless steel curtain walls. There will be a huge mirrored stainless steel curtain wall on the square, covering an area of 1200 square meters and consisting of 191 stainless steel wall panels, simulating the pearl effect in a "pearl kaleidoscope".
Professor Xi Shijia, a prominent expert of the State Council and the chief expert of the Century Square mirror stainless steel curtain wall, introduced that compared to the stainless steel curtain wall of the Chicago Cloud Gate in the United States, the Century Square mirror stainless steel curtain wall is determined to comprehensively surpass the Cloud Gate in terms of technology and effect.
It is reported that the Chicago Cloud Gate is a stainless steel ellipsoid shaped like a "big kidney bean", and has become a popular tourist check-in destination worldwide due to its background image in the Hollywood movie "Breakup". It has a jewelry grade mirror effect and is the ceiling engineering effect in the mirror stainless steel curtain wall industry.
How difficult is it to create a mirrored stainless steel curtain wall for Century Square that surpasses Yunmen in all aspects? Xi Shijia said, first, it is through welding, and second, it is through polishing and polishing.
The Chicago Cloud Gate uses plasma keyhole welding to weld 168 curved arc plates together, using 10mm stainless steel plates with significant welding deformation, reaching the centimeter level. Century Square uses more advanced and scientific precision instrument level lasers to weld 191 wall panels of various geometric shapes, using 8mm stainless steel plates with extremely small welding deformation, reaching the micrometer level! At the construction site, the world's first ultra mirror stainless steel fully automatic laser welding robot that has been put into operation on the wall is "busy". "The Chicago Cloud Gate in the United States uses manual welding, and we have adopted a fully automatic laser welding robot, which has significantly better welding quality than manual welding."
Next, the mirror stainless steel curtain wall of Century Square will enter the polishing stage, ultimately achieving a diamond level finish. "The Mirror stainless steel curtain wall of Century Square has three large planes of 220 square meters, which need to be seamless, flawless, and crystal clear. Compared to the Chicago Cloud Gate, the Cloud Gate does not have a plane of more than 1 square meter. This shows the difficulty of welding the Mirror stainless steel curtain wall."
