(Image source: AP Photo/Feng Zi/Colorchinaphoto)
There are several approaches to determining the size of buildings. At 828 meters (829.9 meters to the top), the Burj Khalifa is the undisputed tallest structure in the world as of 2008. The Great Wall of China with 6,350 kilometers the longest and maybe soon the largest overall could be a mega project in Saudi Arabia:
Almost like something out of a science fiction movie
Saudi Arabia is planning the world’s tallest building
But when it comes to usable area and volume, one building outperforms all others. And it is neither particularly long nor high and not particularly spectacular in itself. It’s not even in a specially designated place, but in the Chinese sub-provincial city of Chengdu.
Das New Century Global Center
The metropolitan region in the middle of the country has around 21 million inhabitants (as of 2020), Chengdu itself around five million. And they can enjoy the benefits of the New Century Global Center. The building, which is 500 meters long, 400 meters wide and 100 meters high, houses a gigantic shopping center with 400,000 square meters of floor space, a university and two five-star hotels.
There is also a 14-screen IMAX cinema, and in the center of the building there is also a water park with a 5,000 square meter beach and a 6,000 square meter screen. The latter shows sunrise and sunset.
The New Century Global Center is a world leader in two categories: With 1,760,000 square meters of floor space, it is well ahead of the runner-up Mecca Royal Clock Tower Hotel (1,575,000 square meters) in Saudi Arabia. It also has the largest volume at 20,000,000 cubic meters. Far behind in second place is the Boeing Everett plant with 13,385,378 cubic meters in the Seattle suburb of the same name.
The New Century Global Center opened in 2013 and is four times the size of Vatican City (the smallest country in the world at 440,000 square meters). Sydney’s famous opera house even fits almost 20 times into the building complex.
In addition to the New Century Global Center, another mega project is currently under construction in China: the longest and deepest tunnel in the world is currently being built in China.
What do you all mean? Would you like to see the New Century Global Center for real? Or are you not interested at all? Write it to us in the comments!
