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Shanghai World Financial Center

The Shanghai World Financial Center (SWFC) is a super skyscraper located in the Pudong district of Shanghai, China. It was designed by Kohn Pedersen Fox and developed by the Japanese Mori Building Company. It is a mixed-use skyscraper, consisting of hotels, offices, conference facilities, observation decks, and ground-floor shopping malls.

The Shanghai World Financial Center was originally planned to be the tallest building in the world when it was designed in 1997. The 97 Story building would surpass the spires of the Petronas Towers in Malaysia. The foundation stone was laid on August 27, 1997, but construction was halted shortly after due the Asian financial crisis in the last 90's. When construction was restarted in 2003, the 508 meter Taipei 101 in Taiwan was already underway to becoming the world's tallest building. Plans where changed but the tower couldn't be built any higher than its present height at 492 meters since the already poured foundation was meant to support a 460 meter tall building. Also, the trapezoidal hole atop the tower was originally a circle, designs where changed in 2005 due to public concerns in China that the circular hole was too similar to the rising sun on the Japan's flag.

On 14 September 2007, the skyscraper was topped out at 492.0 meters, making it the second-tallest building in the world at the time and the tallest structure in Mainland China. It also had the highest occupied floor and the highest height to roof, two categories used to determine the title of world's tallest building.

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