Designed to be the tallest building in Asia when complete, Lotte Supertower’s core and shell structural system was engineered to achieve soaring height of approximately 550 meters (1,800 feet). A cast-in-place concrete core works with a steel diagrid shell that is expressed in a unitized curtain wall. An enclosure system was designed to integrate the complex diagrid geometry with a relatively conventional curtain wall.
The shape of the tower, as it rises from a 230-foot (70 meters) square base to a 132-foot (40 meters) diameter circle at its top presents an extremely efficient structure. while the tapering form creates better mass distribution overall, the aerodynamic profile and smaller surface area at the top of the building avoid wind loads where they are the greatest. Additionally, at the base and the top of the tower, the curtain wall uses a custom-engineered, unitized cable-net system, which will be one of the highest-elevated cable-net structure in the world when complete.
Alfred Huang was a integral member of the competition team that won the commission to design the next most ambitious supertower in Asia. Alfred was responsible for overall design of public spaces and the complex vertical transportation system. The scheme incorporated the seamless integration of multiple programs including high-end retail, casino, office, hotel, residences and observation deck. A winning feature was the grand central atrium that unified the monumental skylobby with the vertical architecture of the design.
Project designed in 2005 while employed with Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, LLP.