Jin Mao Building is a symbolic architecture of Shanghai in marching to the 21st century. It is the first tallest in the country and third tallest in the world, hosting the tallest hotel ever built. Designed by US architectural firm Skidmore Owings & Merrill and built by the Shanghai Jian Gong Group, Jin Mao Building is the first Chinese national construction group to tackle such a large and significant project. With an east-meets-west design signifying Shanghai's emergence as a modern global city, Jin Mao follows the multi-use paradigm, offering retail at its base, offices above, and the Grand Hyatt's World's Highest Hotel occupying the upper 38 floors.

The 420.5-metre-tall building is an engineering triumph. Many technological breakthroughs were required to erect it. The builders drove 1,062 steel pipes as far as 83.5 metres down -- the longest steel piles ever used in a land-based building -- and poured a four-metre-thick concrete base 19.6 metres under the ground to support the building.