The Jin Mao Tower was designed by Adrian D. Smith of Skidmore Owings & Merrill. (David Smith of the same firm is collaborating with David Libeskind on the proposed Freedom Tower at the site of the former World Trade Center in New York.) The 88-story, 1,381-foot-high tower was completed in 1998. The lower 50 floors are for office and they are topped by 6 floors of shopes and the rest is occupied by a luxury hotel with a very large circular atrium.
The Jin Mao Tower has an extraordinarily complex and very beautiful facade that resembles a glittering, telescoped pagoda. While its proportions are not perfect as it many setbacks are not equally spaced vertically and rise in descending order, resulting in a fairly bulky base, the detailing is so magnificent that proportion be damned. The facade narrows as it rises because of the setbacks but near the top it begins to flair outward and the building is topped with a geometrically abstract blooming flower and spire. The design, particularly at the top, makes a mockery of any fancy diamond-cutter: this is the crown jewel of skyscrapers. While its multi-faceted facades owe something to the great top of the Chrysler Building, they are not limited to the top and the glass and grillwork create an intricate texture whose shiny brightness updates the pagoda with great elan.