走进世界上最高的酒店

    上月底有报道称，新的世界最高建筑将于本月在中国湖南省省会长沙动工。如果报道属实，这个名为“天空城市”的拟建项目将有2,749英尺高，以32英尺的微弱优势超过现纪录保持者迪拜塔（Burj Khalifa）。根据中国远大集团（China's Broad Sustainable Building）网站上的介绍，借助该公司首创的预制拼装建造工艺，这座220层的高楼预计将在明年1月完工。

    国际高层建筑与都市住宅协会（Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat）表示，全球十座现有最高建筑中的五座，以及全球十座在建最高建筑中的七座都位于中国大陆和香港特别行政区（the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region）。芝加哥的威利斯塔（Willis Tower）是美国唯一的一座入围全球十座现有最高建筑的摩天大楼。纽约的新世贸中心一号楼（One World Trade Center）将于2014年竣工，届时高度将超越威利斯塔。

    香港在全球所有城市中是无可争议的摩天大楼冠军，共拥有1,224座高度超过200米（656英尺）的建筑（全球建筑在线数据库Emporis对摩天大楼的定义是高度超过200米）。位居其后的是纽约，拥有574座摩天大楼，相比之下少得可怜。有趣的是，香港的大多数建筑在修建时都采用了竹制脚手架。不得不承认，把这种中国古代建筑方法应用于现代高层建筑是个伟大的创举。

    香港的高层建筑（其建筑几乎都是高层）紧紧环绕着维多利亚湾。这片水域把这座城市的两大商业中心——香港岛和九龙分割开来。水边的高楼闪闪发光，翠绿的山峰矗立其后，无论是白天还是夜晚，整个景色都可以轻松地超越芝加哥和纽约的天际线。香港对其令人印象深刻的城市轮廓倍感自豪。每天晚上8点钟，45座摩天大楼都会点亮彩灯、镭射灯和探照灯，灯光伴随着音乐的节拍闪烁明灭，把夜空照耀得绚丽多彩。

    Last week, news broke that construction on the new tallest building in the world begins this month in Changsha, the capital of Hunan Province, China. If the reports bear out, the proposed Sky City will rise to a height of 2,749 feet, besting the record-holding Burj Khalifa in Dubai by a mere 32 feet. Thanks to a prefabricated skyscraper construction technique pioneered by China's Broad Sustainable Building, the 220-floor tower is expected to be completed by January, according to the company's website.

    Five out of 10 of the world's current tallest buildings and seven out of 10 of the tallest buildings under construction are located in China and the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, the international Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat says. (Chicago's Willis Tower is the only U.S. skyscraper on the current top-10 list; One World Trade Center in New York will surpass it in 2014, when it's set to be completed.)

    As cities go, Hong Kong is the uncontested skyscraper champ: It boasts 1,224 buildings over 200 meters (656 feet), the measure used by Emporis, an online database of global buildings, to define skyscrapers. The runner up, New York City, has a measly 574. Fascinatingly, bamboo scaffolding is used in the construction of most of Hong Kong's buildings. The ancient Chinese practice applied to modern construction heights is a feat you have to see to believe. (Check out these stunning images by photographer Peter Steinhauer, which depict the latticework scaffolding and the colorful tarps that wrap around the buildings.)

    Hong Kong's tall buildings--almost all its buildings--are clustered around Victoria Harbour, the body of water that separates Hong Kong Island and Kowloon, the city's two business centers. The panoramic view, with verdant hills rising behind glittering waterside towers, easily surpasses the skylines of Chicago and New York, day or night. So proud is Hong Kong of its impressive silhouette that every day at 8 p.m. sharp, 45 skyscrapers beam colored lights, lasers and searchlights, choreographed to music, into the night sky.