On April 26, the steel arch bridge of Hangzhou Century Center, Hangzhou's tallest building located in the core area of Hangzhou Olympic and International Expo Center, was successfully closed. With the steel structure connecting the two towers at a height of 22 meters, the "Hangzhou Gate" has begun to take its own shape. As a key supporting project for the Hangzhou Asian games, the project has entered a crucial stage of construction.

According to the project leader, the most difficult part of building the Hangzhou Century Center is the construction of the structure connecting the two towers.

Located between the two towers, the steel arch bridge is used to link them. Due to its novel shape and complex structure, its design development, assembly, lifting and closure are rather difficult.

To ensure successful closure of the steel arch bridge, many architectural design masters and technical experts at home and abroad were invited to draw up the final construction plan after four rounds of review.

In terms of design development, the experts take the feasibility of processing and construction into full consideration and expand the utilization range of standard joints.

In terms of construction technology, the steel arch has considerable single piece weight and large structural volume. The lifting weight of the largest single piece reaches about 12.3 tons. As a result, the lifting equipment must be specially selected.

To reduce assembly errors, in the process of construction, the experts measured the bridge from six angles to provide data-based guidance and timely rectification to ensure accurate closure.

Up to now, the tower has reached a height of 135 meters. It is planned to complete the construction of the main structure in the first half of 2021 to make sure its overall completion before the 2022 Asian Games.

Hangzhou Century Center is a key project of Zhejiang Province and a pivotal construction project of Hangzhou Olympic and International Expo Center. In the shape of "H", the first letter of Hangzhou, the building reaches a height of 310 meters, making it the tallest building under construction in Hangzhou.

As a large-scale complex project on the main axis of the core area of the Hangzhou Olympic and International Expo Center, Hangzhou Century Center covers a total area of about 530,000 square meters, in which there are twin towers, star hotels, administrative buildings, enterprise headquarters, and premises for fashion, culture and commerce.

After the completion of the project, Hangzhou Century Center and the five high-rise buildings built on the subway will form the shape of the Bigger Dipper, echoing and complementing the "Sun and Moon" buildings in Qianjiang New Town across the river.

(Compiled by Xu Yuhong)