the largest building ever constructed has opened in china

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The Largest Building EverConstructed Has Opened in China(http://gizmodo.com/the-largest-

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Yesterday 4:15pm(http://gizmodo.com/the-largest-building-ever-constructed-has-opened-in-chi-694836621)

building-ever-constructed-has-opened-in-chi-694836621)At what point does a building become a city? At 1.7 million squaremeters, the New Century Global Center lands somewhere between thetwo.

New Century, which has been under construction since spring of 2012(which isn't long, for a building of this size), opened officially on July 1.The 18-story, glass-and-steel frame structure sits above a new subwaystation in Chengdu, a Sichuan province city of more than 14 million andone of China's fastest-growing megalopolises.

What will visitors find inside its glassy walls? It's actually fairlystandard, as mega-structures go: A 14-screen IMAX theater, shops,restaurants, offices, hotels, a Mediterranean village reconstruction(duh), and finally, its pièce de résistance—a massive artificial beach thatboasts realistic sunsets and sea breezes, thanks to a huge LED screen onone side. A 500,000-square-foot art center designed by Zaha Hadid isunder construction next door.

It's not so much what New Century contains as how much of it. It's hardto visualize numbers like 1.7 million square meters, so here are a fewcomparisons. You could fit three Pentagons inside its walls, or 20Sydney Opera Houses. It's nearly 500,000 square feet larger than thebuilding it beat out for the title, Dubai's International Airport Terminal3. The largest building in the US, by comparison, is the Palazzo in LasVegas, which comes in at #11 worldwide.

It's worth pointing out that New Century isn't the first megastructure ofits kind, though it is the largest. Architects and planners in China arepioneering the construction of entire urban regions from scratch. Thetitle of world's largest structure, in that light, is really just a way for NewCentury's developers to distinguish it from the pack. [ArchDaily(http://www.archdaily.com/398969/the-world-s-largest-building-opens-in-china/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+ArchDaily+%28ArchDaily%29) via TheIndependent (http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/worlds-largest-building-the-new-century-global-center-officially-opens-in-china-8681615.html)]


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[Images via Entertainment and Travel Group (http://www.etgcn.com/Column/1/10_6.aspx)]

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27 discussions displayed becausean author is participating orfollowing a participant.35 additional replies awaitingreview.

Author is participating

Ehrgeiz91 (http://ro

I wish I could find an aerial view.It looks like it has a large volumebut the footprint can't really belarger than the Pentagon andother such monsters, canit? Yesterday 4:30pm (http://gizmodo.com/i-wish-i-could-find-an-aerial-view-it-looks-like-it-ha-695027424

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OnoSendai (http://o

Always believeth inKelsey. Yesterday 4:33pm (http://gizmodo.com/always-believeth-in-kelsey-695051681)

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15 participants

NoTie (http://notie.k

Maybe the largest *inside*China? as opposed to the onethat runs around it?

Yesterday 5:22pm (http://gizmodo.com/maybe-the-largest-

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TrueMad (http://tru…


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Soul_cake_duck (ht

30.571092,104.06078 Yesterday 4:44pm (http://gizmodo.com/30-571092-104-06078-695135726)

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TrueMad and 11 others...

Not length, but surfacearea. Yesterday 6:23pm (http://gizmodo.com/not-length-but-surface-area-695911234)

V@no (http://vanow

I'd think great wall of chinaoccupies much more then a fewmillion squarefeet... Yesterday 6:44pm (http://gizmodo.com/id-think-great-wall-of-china-occupies-much-more-then-a-696053216

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ShaunMStanley (htt

The stat that I am most surprisedabout in this article is that thePalazzo is the U.S.'s largestbuilding. I was there last monthand it didn't seem any biggerthan some of the other hotels inVegas. Yesterday 4:40pm (http://gizmodo.com/the-stat-that-i-am-most-surprised-about-in-this-article-695101791)

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Kelsey Campbell-D

I was surprised by that too.Yesterday 5:44pm (http://gizmodo.com/i-was-surprised-by-that-too-695625269)

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TrueMad (http://tru

Really? It's been a year or sosince I've been but it didn't seemthat big. You get a workoutwalking around, but I thoughtCaesar's wasbigger. Yesterday 6:21pm (http://gizmodo.com/really-its-been-a-year-or-so-since-ive-been-but-it-did-695897312)

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Kelsey Campbell-D

This was my mistake—out ofhabit, I wrote in feet! Thanks forcommenting. Yesterday 5:21pm (http://gizmodo.com/this-was-my-mistake-out-of-habit-i-wrote-in-feet-tha-695441284

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nopeppergames (ht

There's no reason for the authorto abide by whatever IMAX

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OnoSendai and 15 others...

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iz (http://imc.kinja.c

This building is pretty incredible- thanks for posting. However,your write-up needs somefact-checking and editing. If theNCGC is in fact 1.2 millionsquare feet, that wouldn't evenmake it close to the largestbuilding ever. Chicago'sMerchandise Mart is 4 millionsquare feet, so big that for aperiod of time it had its ownzipcode. The Palazzo (which youmention is #11 worldwide) hasnearly 7 million square feet offloor place, which is nearly sixtimes bigger than the NCGC! ThePentagon has just over 6.6million square feet of space.Finally, IMAX is a registeredtrademark and should be spelledin all capital letters as it isregistered.

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Update: I looked it up and thebuilding actually has 1.76 millionsquare meters. So that's18,298,600 sq ft. That's why it'sthe world's largest building byfloorspace. Yesterday 4:52pm (http://gizmodo.com/this-building-is-pretty-incredible-thanks-for-posting-695202894

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OnoSendai (http://o

Yea,verily. Yesterday 4:34pm (http://gizmodo.com/yea-verily-695055153)

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RotatingOrange (htt

Scientology orCatholic! Yesterday 4:36pm (http://gizmodo.com/scientology-or-catholic-695069493)

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Berg88 (http://berg

I always thought the BoeingEverett Factory was the largest inthe US. It is where they assemblyairplanes.Yesterday 6:28pm (http://gizmodo.com/i-always-thought-the-boeing-everett-factory-was-the-lar-695944197)

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Kelsey Campbell-D

You're right, in terms of usablespace—but in terms of largestfloor area, it's the Palazzo! Here'sa wiki on the various ways to cutthe title:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_l...(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_largest_buildings_in_the_world#Largest_floor_space) Yesterday 6:39pm (http://gizmodo.com/youre-right-in-terms-of-usable-space-but-in-terms-of-696021888)

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Author is participating19 participants

RotatingOrange (htt

This thing is useless and willlikely end up like these otherproducts of Chinahttp://www.cnn.com/2013/05/27/wor... (http://www.cnn.com/2013/05/27/world/asia/china-urbanization-house-prices)

http://edition.cnn.com/2013/03/03/bus...(http://edition.cnn.com/2013/03/03/business/china-worlds-largest-mall) Yesterday 4:23pm (http://gizmodo.com/this-thing-is-useless-and-will-likely-end-up-like-these-694975050)

… 10 Puck (http://azpuck

Placeholder until Costco.

Yesterday 4:39pm (http://gizmodo.com/placeholder-until-costco-695096049)

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Kelsey Campbell-D

I love thisimage. Yesterday 5:22pm (http://gizmodo.com/i-love-this-image-695450261)

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3 participants

heroineworshipe (h

Yesterday 6:51pm (http://gizmodo.com/696104070)

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ararapompia (http:/

I'll have one of "THE FUTURE"then, please.

I'm sorry, but I don't seeanything impressive about what'sbasically a large mall not built tolast. The Empire State buildingwill still stand long after thistumbles to theground. Yesterday 7:47pm (http://gizmodo.com/ill-have-one-of-the-future-then-please-im-sorry-bu-696490723)

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Phuk (http://arxos51

That's kind of a massive stretch.A glorified mall != a ringworld. Today 1:00am (http://gizmodo.com/thats-kind-of-a-massive-stretch-a-glorified-mall-a-698527476)

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2 participants

yogibimbi (http://yo

"world's largest [man-made]structure"? Last time I checked,it was still the Great Wall. Also inChina, but slightly differentera. Yesterday 5:23pm (http://gizmodo.com/worlds-largest-man-made-structure-last-time-i-chec-695458182

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ararapompia (http:/

Well, it depends on how youdefine man made structure. LakeVolta in Ghana at 8482 km^2 isprobably the biggest humanfootprint on the planet, but evenif you only count solid objects, ithink the Expressway system ofChina easily outclasses the Greatwall. And for single objects, theThree Gorges Dam, also inChina, likelywins. Yesterday 8:01pm (http://gizmodo.com/well-it-depends-on-how-you-define-man-made-structure-696577056

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The Largest Building Ev…

1 participant

Rayneau (http://ray

Ah, China. You are the DonaldTrump ofnations. Yesterday 5:19pm (http://gizmodo.com/ah-china-you-are-the-donald-trump-of-nations-695427771

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ararapompia (http:/

Minus the badhairpiece. Yesterday 7:48pm (http://gizmodo.com/minus-the-bad-hairpiece-696495212)

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universalcode and one other...

wants to trademark their nameas. Trademarks only apply tothose trying to trade off of themark - thus,"trademark". Yesterday 5:47pm (http://gizmodo.com/theres-no-reason-for-the-author-to-abide-by-whatever-im-69564936


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the largest building ever constructed has opened in china

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