6月20日消息，将在中国武汉建造的世界最高建筑——凤凰塔（Phoenix Towers）将赶超迪拜哈利法塔，成为世界第一高楼。全高848米的迪拜哈利法塔（迪拜塔）是目前全球最高建筑，不过随着人类的新一轮超高建筑热潮兴起，戴在哈利法塔头上的皇冠也许很快就将易主。
凤凰塔由曾在2009年负责“伦敦桥”复建项目的英国Chetwoods建筑事务所设计，体现了自然、环保的新建筑理念。目前“凤凰塔”项目仍在等待武汉市的最终批准。如果一切顺利，该项目将于明年开始奠基，预计总工期至少需要3年。上图为凤凰塔效果图。
Chetwoods采纳了寓意“双凤”的神话风格，采用高低双塔组合式结构，较高的塔为“凤”，稍矮塔则为“凰”。建成高度为3280英尺（约合1千米），占地面积近70000平方米，整个建筑将坐落在一个45公顷的湖心岛上。
楼内设施方面，凤凰塔将安装湖水过滤系统、空气净化系统以及太阳能发电系统。整个下半部是人类活动区，安装有风力发电系统，而两座塔的上半部将作为一个完整的可循环利用系统。除了大楼本体，Chetwoods还为双子塔引入了轻量级光伏包层、生物动力污染吸收层、以及热烟囱等。
A British architect has unveiled plans to build the world’s tallest towers in the central Chinese metropolis of Wuhan – two adjacent kilometre-high spires that could help purify the city’s polluted air and water.
London-based Chetwoods Architects presented the Phoenix Towers plans to Wuhan’s mayor about six months ago, said its chairman, Laurie Chetwood. Pending official approval, the practice hopes to break ground by the end of the year.
According to its website, the project will be “an iconic landmark within an ambitious environmental masterplan for Wuhan”, a city of 10 million people on the Yangtze river. The project will span 47 hectares and cost an estimated £1.2bn.
Computer renderings published online show the steel and concrete towers glowing like hot pink, space-age Eiffel Towers, their buttresses spanning an island in the middle of a lake.
“This is a big iconic statement that says ‘this is Wuhan, look at us, we’re here,'” Chetwood said. “But it’s an environmental statement as well. It would help to improve the area.”
The towers have been designed to incorporate elements from traditional Chinese culture. Together, they represent the phoenix – “feng” and “huang”, a pair of mythical Chinese birds. The feng, or “male” tower, will supply renewable energy to the huang, or “female” tower, a “softer” space with cafes, restaurants and a 100-storey vertical garden.
According to the website, the towers will power themselves with green energy technologies such as “lightweight photovoltaic cladding”, “suspended air gardens” and “waste recycling via biomass boilers”. The feng tower will be fitted with wind turbines, and it will use solar power to suck polluted lake water up through an advanced filtration system.
A commercial square at the towers’ base will cater to China’s growing demand for cultural tourism. “You’ll have a French street, a Japanese street, a Turkish street and so forth … to allow people to see the world without necessarily having to leave China,” Chetwood said.
He said the firm was working with two Chinese companies on the project – the Beijing-based HuaYan Group and the CITIC Group, a state-owned investment company.
“If you work in the UK, if you come up with anything that’s off the wall or slightly out there, you sort of get kicked back,” he said. “In China it goes the other way – they ask for a bit more. That’s a stimulating experience for a designer.”