The Jin Mao Tower is an 88-story landmark supertall skyscraper in the Lujiazui area of the Pudong district of Shanghai, People’s Republic of China. It contains offices and the Shanghai Grand Hyatt hotel. Until August, 2008, it was the second tallest building in Shanghai, the third tallest in the PRC, the eighth tallest in the world. Construction began in 1994 and finished in -1998 with the total floor area of 278707 m2. The lower 50 floors are made up of offices and levels 51 and 52 are mechanical floors, accessible only by service elevators. The building’s anchor tenant is the five-star, 555-room Shanghai Grand Hyatt hotel which occupies floors 53 t0 87. On Fifty-Six, a collection of restaurants including The Grill, the Italian Cucina, the Japanese Kobachi, and the Patio Lounge, which is located at the base of the atrium. The Hyatt’s famous barrel-vaulted atrium starts at the 56th floor and extends upwards to the 87th. Lined with 28 annular corridors and staircases arrayed in a spiral, it is 27m in diameter with a clear height of approximately 115 m. Club Jin Mao is on the 86th floor. The 88th floor ( not part of the hotel) houses the Skywalk, a 1520 m2 indoor observation deck with a capacity of 1000 people. In addition to the panoramic views of Shanghai, it offers a topside view of the hotel atrium below. It also includes a small post office.

Designed by the Chicago office of Skidmore, Owings Merrill, its postmodern form, whose complexity rises as it ascends, draws on traditional Chinese architecture such as the tiered pagoda, gently stepping back to create a rhythmic pattern as it rises.