by Brianna Crandall — February 23, 2015—ThyssenKrupp Elevator has secured a contract to provide the inner mobility solutions for the landmark Cube Tower, a unique high-rise building in Foshan, China, including a total of 34 elevators and 16 escalators.
The Cube Tower pushes the boundaries of architectural design and aesthetics and symbolizes the new face of Foshan to the world, says the company. As the focal point of the city’s new cultural center, the distinctive building rises to over 143 meters and uses traditional design motifs on its façade that covers nine vertical cubes of varying sizes. The tower incorporates a theatre and an exhibition hall, as well as leisure, sightseeing, and conference areas overlooking the rest of the cultural complex.
Foshan, a prefecture-level city in China’s Guangdong Province, has a population of over 7 million people and aims to establish itself as a development hub. In pursuit of this goal, the city already has an entire zone dedicated to hi-tech development and has pledged to make significant investments in its infrastructure. The new cultural center is evidence of such endeavors to integrate culture and commerce, reflecting the region’s Lingnan culture while also promoting the quality of recreation, commercial opportunities, and environmentally sustainable infrastructure development.
Engineering challenges, ingenious solutions
ThyssenKrupp Elevator plans to complete the installation work at the Cube Tower in July 2015. The unusual shape and structure of this building presents numerous engineering challenges that require ingenious solutions. As a testament to the company’s customer-centric focus, ThyssenKrupp will supply custom-designed cabs to suit the specific requirements of the tower, including two doors per cabin to allow evacuation of passengers via an elevator in an adjacent shaft, while still meeting all elevator safety codes.
ThyssenKrupp in China
Driven by unparalleled urbanization and the corresponding boom in the construction and transport sectors, China currently has the largest global elevator market with an estimated value of 15 billion euros, and the market is expected to provide further growth opportunities. ThyssenKrupp Elevator, which currently operates more than 220 offices and service stations in China, will have over 250 by 2015/2016. Taking into account all the units under maintenance in the Asia Pacific region, ThyssenKrupp Elevator transports around 160 million people every day — twice the population of Germany.
The Elevator Technology business area brings together the ThyssenKrupp Group’s global activities in passenger transportation systems. With customers in 150 countries, ThyssenKrupp Elevator is one of the world’s leading elevator companies. With more than 50,000 highly skilled employees, the company offers innovative and energy-efficient products designed to meet customers’ individual requirements. The portfolio includes passenger and freight elevators, escalators and moving walks, passenger boarding bridges, stair and platform lifts as well as tailored service solutions for all products. Over 900 locations around the world provide an extensive sales and service network to guarantee closeness to customers.
