A Look at the World's Largest Building

New Century Global Center in Chengdu, China

Even though China and Dubai have been competing for the title of holding the largest buildings in the world for some time now, China definitely took the lead with their New Century Global Center, which officially represents the world’s largest freestanding building.  Now when you hear about the “world’s largest building”, you can expect it to be truly monolithic, but this one goes way beyond. Its measurements are completely off the charts, soaring to 328 feet in height while spanning 1,640 feet in length and 1,312 in width. To give you a better idea about its size, we can safely compare it to three Pentagon buildings or 20 Sydney Opera Houses.

The New Century Global Center houses a wide variety of establishments, ranging from five star hotels to office buildings and shopping malls. Furthermore, its 5.5 million square feet of space include a water park, a large ice-skating ring, an indoor beach, a Mediterranean village and a 14-screen IMAX Cineplex.

At certain angles, it looks like the grill of a 1957 Cadillac. Or a rumpled glass mattress. Or a Chinese temple. Oliver Wainwright at The Guardian wrote that "the building squats like an overfed prize fowl."

New Century Global Center in Chengdu, China. Photo Credit: Photo by Taylor Weidman/Getty Images News Collection/Getty Images

By architectural volume, the Boeing Everett Production Factory in Everett, Washington is still the world's largest building. In height, the Burj Khalifa in Dubai is the tallest skyscraper. By floor space, however, the 2013 New Century Global Center in Sichuan province is HUGE.

About the New Century Global Center:

Location: Chengdu, China

Developer: billionaire Deng Hong, Exhibition & Travel Group (ETG) China
Opened: July 1, 2013 (said to have been built in 3 years)
Size (approximate): 328 feet (100 meters) high, 1,640 feet (500 meters) long, and 1,312 feet (400 meters) wide
Floor Space: 18,900,000 square feet (1,760,000 square meters)

Mega projects are found throughout the world—distribution centers for the likes of Amazon and Target, rocket and aircraft assembly plants for NASA and Boeing, auto manufacturers, dry docks for ship builders, exhibition centers like the O2 Millennium Dome, and transportation hubs like Denver International Airport take up a lot of space. But the building known as "Global Center" is promoted as the largest freestanding building in the world. You can take a guided tour of the Boeing Factory, but you can actually LIVE (and play) in the New Century Global Center. Here's a short tour.

Source: Largest building in the world opens in China – complete with indoor seaside by Oliver Wainwright, The Guardian, July 9, 2013; "The largest building in the world: New Century Global Center in Chengdu" by GoChengdoo,YouTube, Published on October 9, 2012 [accessed February 9, 2016]

Inside the Global Center

Inside the New Century Global Center, Chengdu, China. Photo Credit: Photo by John Moore/Getty Images News Collection/Getty Images

The Global Center is multi-use architecture, designed as a destination—a small city, actually. Within its glass walls, underneath the 24-hour artificial sunlight, is everything a traveler needs:

two five-star hotels with "hot spring spots" and a variety of restaurant choices

both a sandy beach and a "first class ice ring"

an aquarium

"one of the largest fashion malls in China" in a Mediterranean style

7.75 million square feet (720,000 square meters) of deluxe office space and conference centers, including advanced security, 16 entrances, above- and underground parking, and an environment "so intoxicating" that "business will become a way of life here"

14 screen IMAX movie house

a water park with a pirate ship

When you enter the lobby—over 200 feet high (65 meters) high and over 100,000 square feet (10K square meters) in area—apparently you smell the sea.

Source: "The largest building in the world: New Century Global Center in Chengdu" by GoChengdoo, YouTube, Published on October 9, 2012 [accessed February 9, 2016]

Paradise Island Water Park

Paradise Island Water Park inside the largest building in the world, the New Century Global Center in Chengdu, China. Photo Credit: Photo by Taylor Weidman/Getty Images News Collection/Getty Images

Global Center developers are proud of the "artificial seawater" and the biggest "indoor artificial waves in the world." The promotional video declares that "the waves are powerful and exhilarating."

Above the artificial ocean is the "largest indoor LED display in the world," a way to parade digital scenery, 150 meters in length and about 40 meters high. In addition to projecting sunrises, sunsets, and "twilight afterglow," the display enhances the evening's "fantastic music and dance shows."

The city of Chengdu and its environs comprise millions of residents living and working hundreds of miles from the sea. This provincial capital is one of the most populated of inland China. The Paradise Island Water Park was expected to be an enticing local draw, if not a high-tech reward for party members of the People's Republic of China.

Source: "The largest building in the world: New Century Global Center in Chengdu" by GoChengdoo, YouTube, Published on October 9, 2012 [accessed February 9, 2016]

WhiteWater Family Raft Ride

Family Raft Ride at the Paradise Island Water Park inside the New Century Global Center, Chengdu, China.Photo Credit: Photo by Taylor Weidman/Getty Images News Collection/Getty Images (cropped)

The developer of the Global Center enlisted the Canadian company WhiteWater West Industries Ltd. to design the Paradise Island Water Park. The WhiteWater® company, "the original waterpark & attractions company," has a menu of products from which to choose. New Century Global Center includes AquaPlay™ Rain Fortress, Abyss,™ Family Raft Ride, Whizzard, AquaLoop,™ Ropes Course, Freefall Plus, AquaTube,™ Wave River, and Double FlowRider.®

Source: Paradise Island Waterpark Featured Project, WhiteWater website [accessed February 9, 2016]

Surf's Up Inside the Global Center

The surf simulator at the Paradise Island Water Park inside the largest building in the world, the New Century Global Center, Chengdu, China. Photo Credit: Photo by Taylor Weidman/Getty Images News Collection/Getty Images (cropped)

The New Century Global Center in Chengdu, China is hundreds of miles from the ocean surf—the real ocean surf. This simulator, however, allows visitors to practice their balance and get the feel of a continuous wave. Even if you don't have a chance to choose the wave, you can get some exercise. The surf is always up at Paradise Island Water Park.

Rolling on the Lazy River

A river runs through the Paradise Island Water Park inside the New Century Global Center in Chengdu, China.Photo Credit: Photo by Taylor Weidman/Getty Images News Collection/Getty Images (cropped)

Under the glass sky of the Global Center, the Paradise Island Water Park includes 1312 feet (400 meters) of artificial coastline and 1640 feet (500 meters) of river rafting. The promotional video says the Center provides "a platform through which the new god-favored land communicates with the world."

Source: "The largest building in the world: New Century Global Center in Chengdu" by GoChengdoo, YouTube, Published on October 9, 2012 [accessed February 9, 2016]

The Color of Harmony

Water slides at the Paradise Island Water Park inside the New Century Global Center, Chengdu, China. Photo Credit: Photo by Taylor Weidman/Getty Images News Collection/Getty Images (cropped)

Colorful tubes and water roller coaster slides give the Paradise Island Water Park the look of an indoor carnival. The Global Center is promoted as offering "harmony, openness, broad-mindedness, and approachability to the people."

Source: "The largest building in the world: New Century Global Center in Chengdu" by GoChengdoo, YouTube, Published on October 9, 2012 [accessed February 9, 2016]

Rooms with a View

Hotel rooms overlook the artificial beach at the New Century Global Center in Chengdu, China. Photo Credit: Photo by Taylor Weidman/Getty Images News Collection/Getty Images (cropped)

The Intercontinental Chengdu Global Center is the hotel chain within the largest building on earth. Rooms overlook the sandy beach, just like the real thing. Easily book a room from an online service like hotels.com or orbitz.com, but then you'll have to travel to the middle of China to enjoy.

Chengdu in Sichuan province is often cited as a more laid back city than its East Coast sisters. For years its been known for the Chengdu Panda Base, a research and breeding facility for the giant panda.

Americans may recognize the province more for its cuisine. As part of the UNESCO Creative Cities Network (UCCN), Chengdu is a City of Gastronomy.

Developing the Global Center was an attempt to bring Chengdu into the 21st century, "transforming Chengdu into a world-class, modern city of idyllic beauty." It was promoted as a "tourist destination where history and modernism harmonize."

At the beginning of China's prosperous 21st century, Chengdu sought to be "looked upon by the world with respect." Can architecture command respect? It's been done before. The Greeks built their temples, a classical architecture revived by Wall Street.

Source: "The largest building in the world: New Century Global Center in Chengdu" by GoChengdoo, YouTube, Published on October 9, 2012 [accessed February 9, 2016]

A First-Class Ice Ring

Large ice skating rink inside the New Century Global Center in Chengdu, China. Photo Credit: Photo by John Moore/Getty Images News Collection/Getty Images

The New Century Global Center, with a self-contained climate, is a world unto itself. A visitor can shop in a Mediterranean style village, take in the surf and sand in a salty breeze, lounge beneath palm trees filled with colorful stuffed exotic birds, and then go ice skating.

The New Century Global Center is part of a larger building project for the city of Chengdu, China. A central plaza called the New Century Plaza is "both graceful and majestic in design" connecting the Global Center with a contemporary museum designed by Pritzker Laureate Zaha Hadid.

The New Century City Art Centre, set off by musical fountains in the Plaza, may be the only "architecture" of note. If you're no fan of Hadid's work, the entire New Century complex may be considered a big waste of money by a corrupt developer and an over-eager government too flush with cash.