The public plaza connecting the bases of the Jin Mao Tower, Shanghai World Financial Center, and Shanghai Tower is where the three supertall towers can be seen together at close range — a juxtaposition available nowhere else in the world, since the three tallest buildings in Shanghai share a single city block.
The architectural contrast is sharp: Jin Mao (1999) is a pagoda derivation in steel and glass; SWFC (2008) is a rectangular shaft with the distinctive trapezoidal aperture at the top; Shanghai Tower (2015) is a twisting organic form. Standing between them gives a sense of the ambition and technical achievement of the Lujiazui development in a way that photographs from a distance cannot. The plaza is publicly accessible at all hours. Century Avenue at Lujiazui Ring Road.