By LAWRENCE TAN

The recently completed Shanghai World Financial Center (SWFC) has bagged the award for Asia’s “Best Tall Building” of 2008.

The Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat (CTBUH) gave the thumbs up to SWFC not only for its excellent architectural form and design but also for the integration and use of sustainable materials in the building’s construction.

Designed by Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates and developed by Mori Building Company, the 492m tall mixed use skyscraper, built at a cost of £640m, took 14 years to complete since the foundations were laid in 1997.

It has been described in various newspapers as resembling a giant bottle-opener, thanks to a trapezoidal opening near the top, designed to reduce wind pressure on the tower.

However, the SWFC is not Asia’s tallest building in the true sense of the word. That accolade currently belongs to Dubai’s Burj Dubai.

But, measured in terms of the "highest occupied floor" at 474m and height to top of roof at 487m, the SWFC triumphs over the rest of the competition.

The 101-storey tower houses offices, conference facilities, luxury retail space and restaurants, as well as the world’s highest five-star hotel, the Park Hyatt Shanghai. The 174-room hotel occupies the 79th to 93rd floor of the SWFC.

Above the hotel, there’s a skybridge on the 97th floor, at the halfway point of the seven-story SWFC Observatory, which presents a daunting view to any visitor. At 474m above sea level, that also makes it the highest observation deck in the world.