Capital Hangzhou Raffles City Center

This guide to Raffles City Hangzhou traces why architect Ben van Berkel designed twin towers of sixty-one and fifty-nine floors as one continuous surge, meant to evoke the Qiantang River's famous tidal bore frozen in steel and aluminum. It follows the nine-year build from groundbreaking around 2008 to its 2017 opening, and the engineering bet on a mall meant to ventilate itself without air conditioning. You'll hear how Chinese social media reacted to the towers' spiraling, scale-like panels almost as soon as the scaffolding came down. Look up at the rings of curved panels rotating floor by floor before you head inside.