John Portman & Associates in Nanning, China

John Portman & Associates has won the design competition for the Tianlong Fortune center. 
Image: Courtesy Portman

John Portman & Associates (Portman) has been selected to design Tianlong Fortune Center, a 108-story skyscraper in Nanning, China.  The architectural design competition was led by developer Guangxi Wei Zhuang Real Estate Co., Ltd., and the Nanning Planning Bureau. As a finance and trade center, the building will be home to banks and financial consultants.

As the image provided shows, the building should look great from a helicopter.

The upper portion of the 1,312-foot-tall (400-meter-tall) tower includes a five-star hotel, while floors immediately above the hotel provide an exclusive executive club and destination restaurant. The level below the hotel lobby will feature a hotel's fitness center, pool, restaurant, business center and other amenities. The remainder of the tower is office space.

An observation area will provide a 360-degree view of the surrounding area. It features two major levels, one enclosed and another in a rooftop garden. A full complement of visitor and tourist facilities will be available at the sky deck, including a gift shop and café.

In addition to the tower, the project includes a podium building connected to the tower. Anchored at each corner by spaces for banking clients, the eight-story podium building also contains restaurant, retail, fitness, entertainment and conference facilities, and features another roof top garden.

The tower is connected with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), many of whose members will have headquarters here. Its glass facets symbolically reflect the logo of the  which depicts a bundle of harvested rice tied in the middle.

Located in the tropical southern portion of China, Nanning is the capital city of Guangxi province. The project is to be located along Minzu Boulevard, the primary east-west corridor into Nanning's central business district.