Zhang Yue
At a mere 204m it's less than a third of the
height of Shanghai's tallest. Its blocky glass and
steel form may be unlikely to win any
architectural beauty awards.
But what is startling is the speed at which it was
built. A time-lapse video shows it shoot up at the
rate of three storeys per day.
For the man behind it, Zhang Yue, this is only the
beginning.
“Humans have experienced revolutions in industry,
agriculture, transportation and information, but
not yet in buildings,” says the handbook of the
company he founded, Broad Group.

Here now comes the revolution.”
The revolution will be modular, Zhang insists.
Mini Sky City was assembled from thousands of
factory-made steel modules, slotted together like
Meccano.
It's a method he says is not only fast, but also
safe and cheap.
Now he wants to drop the “Mini” and use the
same technique to build the world’s tallest
skyscraper, Sky City.
While the current record holder, the 828m-high
Burj Khalifa in Dubai, took five years to “top out”,
Zhang says his proposed 220-storey “vertical
city” will take only seven months - four for the
foundations, and three for the tower itself.
And it will be 10m taller.
But if that was not enough, Zhang Yue wants
nothing less than to reimagine the whole urban
environment.
He has a vision of a future where his company
makes a third of the world's buildings – all
modular, all steel, and all green.
“The biggest problem we face in the world right
now isn't terrorism or world war. It's climate
change,” he says.

Our buildings are holistically solving society's
problems.”
The Tower
Since the roof went on Mini Sky City on 17
February 2015, Zhang Yue's tower has attracted
plenty of attention.
A YouTube video about the building has been
watched three million times.
Newspapers in many countries have listed its
eye-catching vital statistics: 19 atriums, office
space for 4,000 people and 800 apartments, and
of course the 19 days it took to build.
This last figure requires a slight caveat - the
tower was built in two bursts: the first 20 storeys
went up in a week in 2014, but red tape held up
construction for a year, with the final 37 storeys
completed in 12 working days in February.
For some, the speed of construction has raised a
question. Can something built so fast really be
safe?
In fact, Zhang says safety is the very reason he
got into construction, seven years ago.
In May 2008, China was already gearing up for
the big party that was to be the Beijing Olympics,
when disaster struck.
A powerful earthquake hit Sichuan province, killing
90,000 and leaving almost five million homeless.
It was a national tragedy. Many Chinese people
were appalled at how easily thousands of
buildings collapsed.
The death toll among children particularly - killed
during lessons as schools caved in on top of
them - gave rise to much soul-searching.
“At that time, everyone was debating how to
make safer buildings,” Zhang says.
He had already made a fortune from air
conditioning - he had private planes, a fleet of
luxury cars, expensive homes - and this gave him
a motive to branch out.
Zhang travelled to Germany, Japan and the US to
meet expert engineers, and all of them talked
about steel. Steel structures were strongest, but
also flexible enough to bend, not break, during a
tremor.
The problem was cost - steel was prohibitively
expensive for normal buildings.
So Zhang Yue's idea was to make a new, cheaper
form of steel structure.
He set up a new wing of his company, called
Broad Sustainable Building (BSB), and set to work
with a team of architects and engineers.
In 2010 they made their first public prototype - a
six-storey building built in a single day for the
Shanghai Expo. Since then they've completed
more than 30 buildings, including a 15-storey
hotel in six days, a 30-storey hotel in 15 days,
and the recent Mini Sky City.
The process is always the same.
Steel is delivered to one of Broad Group's six
huge hangar-like factories, where it is machine-
cut and welded into one of a few basic modules -
a column, crossbeam or floor section.
These are then loaded on to lorries and driven to
the site, where they are slotted into place like
Tetris pieces, and finally bolted and welded
together.
All modules bear serial numbers. The more
advanced ones, like the 12m x 2m rectangular
floor sections, come pre-installed with plumbing,
electric wiring and air ducts.
The company says 90% of their buildings'
components are prefabricated like this, with only
interior finishing required on site.
A “configuration guide” on the company’s website
allows prospective clients to select the type of
building they require, from hotel to kindergarten
to museum.
They can also choose extras, such as a “sky
garden”, an “indoor farm” or a helipad.
To demonstrate resilience of the buildings, footage
has been released of a model skyscraper surviving
the equivalent of a magnitude nine earthquake.
In heavily polluted China, one of the most
appealing features of the design may be the
interior air quality.
High levels of tiny atmospheric particles called
PM2.5 pose a serious health hazard in many
cities - at one 20th the diameter of a human hair,
they're small enough to lodge in the lungs and
enter the bloodstream. Broad Group claims their
technology stops 99% of them from getting inside
their buildings.
The windows are designed not to open, partly for
this reason. They're also made of quadruple-
paned glass, one of the features which Zhang
says makes his buildings “five times more energy
efficient” than conventional ones.
Others are 20cm-thick wall insulation, exterior
window shading and Broad Group’s air
conditioning system, sold in dozens of countries
around the world.
In a building like the proposed 220-storey Sky
City, with 30,000 residents, there would be further
benefits, Zhang argues.
People would live and work in the same building,
so they would not need cars. By living vertically,
more land could be left in its natural state.
“In Sky City, you can find anything you need from
cradle to grave except a crematorium,” Zhang has
written.
But how are his towers perceived in China?
Their simple, unadorned form may come as a
relief to President Xi Jinping. He recently
expressed exasperation at China's rush of avant-
garde buildings that look like anything from
ancient gold coins, massive teapots to huge pairs
of trousers.
But whether Chinese consumers would want to
live in an urban environment where many
apartment blocks looked strikingly similar is
another matter.
There have been other criticisms too. An
engineering professor from Beijing’s Tsinghua
University, Zhang Jun, has been widely quoted in
the Chinese media arguing that modular buildings
have an Achilles heel - a tendency for water to
seep in between the modules over time.
He argues that reinforced concrete will continue
to be the future of residential buildings, as
anything under 30 storeys would cost too much -
though he accepts that the Broad Group towers
are structurally safe.
On a traditional bricks-and-mortar building site a
stone's throw from Mini Sky City, civil engineer
Chen Zhipeng identifies a different snag.
“I've been an engineer for 20 years, and I worry
that if you run into problems while assembling a
modular tower you can't fix them. That's the
problem with pre-fabricated parts.”
But Zhang Yue scoffs at such talk. “That's a
stupid way of thinking,” he says.
When you're building modular towers, you have to
make sure every single detail is right before you
begin.
“You can't be like a housewife making dinner
thinking: 'Oh let's add some soy sauce, maybe a
touch more vinegar.' No. You have to be a like a
chef in a restaurant. You have to make exactly
the same meal every time.”
The Man
Changsha is known in China as a cradle of
revolutionary Communist leaders, and as a
hotspot for fiery cuisine.
View from Broad Town
It's where Mao began his political career, and you
find his favourite dish at every corner - red-
braised pork belly.
It's not a place you'd necessarily expect to find a
replica of Buckingham Palace, with a bronze
statue of Napoleon on horseback in front of it,
sword raised in a heroic charge.
Nor, for that matter, would you expect a 40m-
high gold Egyptian pyramid.
But here they all stand at the centre of Broad
Town, Zhang Yue's company headquarters.
Spread out over a square kilometre, it's home to
1,200 of the firm's 4,500 staff. Workers in blue
overalls stroll from dormitory to factory across
immaculate lawns.
A clucking of geese from the company's extensive
organic farm punctuates the hum of giant air
conditioning units.
Behind all of this is the man himself: Chairman
Zhang Yue.
He's a visionary and uncompromising leader who
has been described as a Chinese Steve Jobs -
and Broad Town is his idea of a perfect society in
miniature.
The “palace” is actually called the Environmental
Philosophy Institute. All employees have to
memorise a handbook called Life Attitudes of an
Earth Citizen.
Zhang Yue in his office
It contains Zhang Yue's detailed instructions for
living a virtuous, healthy and environmentally
friendly life.
“Don't buy things you only use once, such as
newspapers.”
“Grow your own vegetables.”
“Most importantly, have only one child, to allow
the population of the world to return to a level it
can bear.”
Another company handbook urges staff to brush
their teeth twice a day, and to share cars.
All job applicants have to memorise these rules
during an arduous recruitment process, which
includes a week's military-style boot camp.
The man himself is small and wiry, with a
glimmer in his eye and an incredibly quick mind.
He often works 14 hours a day, and eats just a
single meal at 7pm, meaning he's usually
grouchy by late afternoon.
His hair is greying. Dyeing your hair is bad for the
environment, he says.

I have to set an example. My staff imitate me,
and they then influence those around them.
That's how we influence society.”
Zhang's office is dimly-lit to protect his sensitive
eyes. There's no computer, just piles of papers,
diagrams and charts scrawled all over in red ink.
A magnifying glass for scrutinising documents
and architectural plans is the most prominent
piece of equipment.
An endless stream of assistants waits by his
office door for him to approve a poster, a budget,
a meeting. He oversees every aspect of the
business.
“It's all about the details. Engineering serves the
people. You ask yourself: ‘What does society
need? How can we make products which interfere
as little as possible with the environment?’ This
needs an unlimited amount of work.”
Zhang started Broad Group with his brother in
1988 and rapidly made it one of China's most
profitable private firms.
By the early 2000s he was a regular in Forbes
magazine's China Rich List, and now has an
estimated fortune of $900m.
Broad Group's chief products are industrial-scale
air chillers, air purifiers and air conditioning units.
Their “non-electrical air conditioning” machines
use natural gas, solar power and waste heat for
energy.
Glossy company literature full of complex
engineering diagrams and detailed technical
specifications is available throughout Broad
Town.
A control centre here with banks of flashing
screens monitors air conditioning machines in
more than 80 different countries, as engineers
keep track of faults in Madrid, in Bangkok, or in
Bracknell.
Flushed with the early success of his company,
Zhang Yue developed a passion for flying,
becoming the first Chinese citizen to buy a private
plane.
At his peak he reportedly owned seven aircraft,
but then sold most of them off. Private planes sit
at odds with his more recent role as an eco-
warrior.
“I love playing in my helicopter and can even fly
it. It’s fun, but uses so much fuel. So I have to
tell people: ‘Wealth comes with responsibility.’
And for those of us with environmental
consciousness, wealth has no real meaning.”
He lifts a piece of paper. “I always write on both
sides, look.”
He was given a United Nations Development
Program Champions of the Earth award in 2011.
Fortune Magazine called him one of the “world's
top 25 eco-innovators” in 2014. He frequently
attends international conferences on climate
change.
“Chairman Zhang is the soul of the company,”
says Broad Group vice-president Juliet Jiang,
who has been with the company for 20 years.
New Broad Group staff in training
“He majored in fine art. And later he taught
himself thermal engineering, so he became the
chief engineer for air quality products. Now he’s
the chief architect for Broad Sustainable Building.
“He's not like the other bosses drinking tea,
reading the newspaper, enjoying life, playing golf.
No, Chairman Zhang spends his time all for his
work.”
Company chef Deng Zhenyi, who was personally
interviewed for the role by Zhang Yue 19 years
ago, says his boss is a generous but also
intimidating figure.
“He's strict with very high standards. Sometimes
I feel a bit scared when I see him and hide,” he
says.
The works canteen is quite unusual, he explains.
“All the ingredients are grown on our own organic
farms: wheat, oil, flour. They're not from outside.
“If employees can't finish their food, they're
punished with fines of 200 RMB ($30 / £20), and
they're banned from eating here for two days.
“We are quite strict about waste. ‘Eat as much as
you like, but don’t waste a drop.’ This is our
company's culture.”
Community spirit is encouraged. All company
employees gather in Broad Town's main square
at 07:45 on Monday mornings to sing the
company anthem.
Statue of Aristotle
Naturally, it's written by Chairman Zhang.
I love my company. Long may it flourish.
I love my clients. I wish them prosperity.
I love China. Let it be civilised and strong.
I love the Earth, I love the Earth. May it be
healthy and beautiful.
After work, staff attend free art classes, play
basketball or visit the gym.
“People have to enjoy living here,” says Zhang.
“Otherwise it's an inhumane environment. With no
productivity.”
Statue of Rachel Carson
Devotion to productivity also prompted another
rule: no romantic relationships on campus.
Zhang Yue's background as an artist may explain
the abundance of sculpture.
A bronze Plato and Aristotle