Hitachi has today announced that they will deliver the world’s fastest ultra-high-speed elevators with a speed of 1,200 m/min (72 km/h) to the Guangzhou CTF Finance Centre (530 meters tall), a mixed-use skyscraper currently under construction in Guangzhou, China, for the full opening of the building in 2016. The elevator will feature technologies that support safe and comfortable elevator operation, in addition to the drive and control technologies needed to attain the world’s fastest speed.

The 1,200 m/min ultra-high-speed elevator that Hitachi will deliver will feature both the drive power needed to attain the world’s fastest speed, and also reliable control capabilities. The elevator will travel a shaft height of 440 meters from the 1st to 95th floor in approximately 43 seconds. Furthermore, Hitachi will achieve both high-speed elevator operation and a safe, comfortable ride by using braking equipment and a governor that safely bring the elevator to a stop, as well as technologies to prevent lateral vibration and to reduce the sensation of ear blockage caused by air pressure differences. Hitachi will install a total of 95 elevators at Guangzhou CTF Finance Centre, consisting of two of the world’s fastest elevators announced today with a speed of 1,200 m/min; 28 double-deck elevators; ultra-high-speed elevators with a speed of 600 meters per minute; and other elevators.

The Guangzhou CTF Finance Centre, a 530m tall mixed-use tower and podium, is located across from Guangzhou West Tower in that city’s burgeoning Tianhe District. The 390,000sm center is linked to public transportation through underground connections at the B1 and B2 levels, and to adjacent buildings via second level pedestrian bridges.

The tower houses 208,000sm of office, 75,000sm of residential, and 46,000sm of hotel program. A stepped podium with spiralling roof terraces houses hotel function as well as 47,000sm of retail, restaurant and cinema program.

The design of the Guangzhou CTF Finance Centre is derived from its multiple uses – the building steps to accommodate the changing floorplates of the various program types – but also from the form of the adjacent West Tower and TV Tower – the city’s other two landmark supertall structures. The CTF’s chiseled setbacks are sculpted to acknowledge the various heights of the nearby towers, and to provide a crescendo on the city’s ever-expanding skyline. The overall effect of the tower is of a crystalline form ascending to the sky. This formal vocabulary extends to the podium, which extends upwards from the tower, with stepping terraces that frame a large atrium skylight.