It should be no surprise that the world’s top manufacturing country, famous for quickly piecing together complicated products, would be able to raise a skyscraper the fastest.
What’s surprising is just how fast – less than 15 days, to be precise. The Ark Hotel in China’s south-central Hunan province, a 183,000 square foot hotel standing 30 stories, was erected in an incredible 360 hours. What’s more, the building is designed to withstand up a 9.0 earthquake – and even boasts energy-efficient building techniques.
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The construction firm in charge of the project was able to manage such a rapid timeline because of a smart prefab design that allowed much of the building to be manufactured off-site, and then assembled relatively rapidly once the foundations had been set.
Though the housing industry has been experiencing a prefab comeback of sorts, the commercial sector seems more reluctant to embrace the concept of modular building – until recently, that is. The remarkable timeline and low costs of the Ark Hotel may inspire other projects to embrace the possibilities of prefab construction.
Watch the amazing time lapse footage of the construction below.
