Visiting the Second Tallest Building in the World

One day during my stay in Shanghai, I visited the Shanghai World Financial Center (SWFC). It is quite an impressive building, being the second tallest building in the world at 1,614.2 ft (492.0 meters) behind Taipei 101.

Construction began in 1997 but was halted by the Asian Financial crisis. Work did not restart until 2003 and was finally completed in 2008. The skyscraper is home to a variety of areas including offices, hotels, conference rooms, observation decks, and shopping malls. The SWFC is also home to Park Hyatt Shanghai, the highest hotel in the world with 174 rooms and suites.

There are 3 observation decks in the SWFC. The lowest deck is at 1,388 ft on the 94th floor, the second is at 1,440 ft on the 97th floor, and the highest is at 1,555 ft on the 100th floor. The highest bathroom in the tower is located on the 97th floor. Yes, I did use the bathroom. Yes, I did go number two. Just think of the potential energy of my excrement! If we assume the mass was 0.5 kilograms (a rough guess-timate), the energy is 9.8 * 0.5 * 439 = 2,151.1 Joules. That’s like … a lot of energy.

Anyway, each observation deck has it’s own price tag. I don’t remember the price for just the first two decks, but to reach the very top cost 150 RMB. A pretty steep price tag just to go to the top of a building if you ask me, but I live a relatively frugal lifestyle so that I can afford such things when I’m traveling so I wasn’t about to let that stop me. And really, if you were going to visit the SWFC, why would you not want to go to the very top anyway?

Each incremental ticket gains you admission to the decks below (buying the 100th floor ticket allows you to visit the other two decks, the 97th floor ticket allows you to visit the lowest deck as well), which briefly extends the life of your visit. The tour takes you through all three decks in order, so it provides a kind of build up to the very top of the tower.

At the start of the tour you have to sit through some kind of weird introductory movie that talks about the design of the tower and the elevators and whatnot. I found it uninformative, boring, and a little disturbing (there were these weird anthropomorphic animals talking, it was strange). After the few minutes I was forced into spending watching the movie, I was ushered into an elevator and whisked up to the lowest observation deck. I went there to get to the very top so I didn’t waste much time on the first two decks.

OK, so here’s the moment you’ve all been waiting for. Here are a few pictures I took from the highest deck on the 100th floor.

The highest observation deck

The neighboring Jinmao Tower is clearly dwarfed by the SWFC

A beautiful view of Shanghai. Also, candor while performing one of the scariest jobs ever.

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