The story of how the giant building came to be
In the Chinese city of Hangzhou (a major financial and economic center of China), the construction of a huge, upscale hotel was planned. With luxurious two-story rooms and a very advantageous location in a promising business district. When the building was practically finished, demand for hotels suddenly fell: more and more people were choosing permanent housing. At the last moment, the developer decided to abandon the hotel format and sell the units as privately owned apartments.
According to information from MAXIM magazine writer Oleg Bocharov, buyers quickly realized the potential of such enormous spaces. Instead of living in the apartments themselves or renting them out whole, many of them divided the two-story dwellings into smaller, separate units. For example, a 90-square-meter unit easily turned into 6 small rooms, each of which was perfectly livable, and the total cost of renting them out came to far more.
And so, in 2013, the modern and self-sufficient, but very densely populated high-rise The Regent International came into being. Here there are shops, cafes and restaurants, swimming pools, spa salons, gyms. And also hairdressers, internet cafes, and much more that is needed for the life and support of all 20,000 residents. That is, on average, how many people live permanently in the building – not really all that many, considering that the population of Hangzhou has already exceeded 12 million people and continues to grow. If you work remotely, you need never leave a building like this at all.
What the city-building looks like
The building is shaped like a wave. Its area is 260,000 square meters. The building has between 36 and 39 floors, and its maximum height exceeds 200 meters. For the residents’ convenience, 24 elevators are in operation.
The structure contains 12,000 apartments in various price categories. The smallest and cheapest are more like storage closets: they have no windows, and their area does not exceed 7 square meters. Despite the cramped quarters, each of them has a toilet, a shower, minimal kitchen equipment, and a place to sleep.
More spacious apartments with balconies cost at least twice as much. And the most impressive ones occupy more than 200 square meters, and you will have to fork out an astronomical sum for them. Often residents, as their salary and status rise, simply move to a different apartment within the same building.
Who lives in the building that became world-famous
Most of the residents – are young people: senior students, university graduates, budding businesspeople. Some apartments are rented by bloggers and small companies. The enormous building does not stand empty, because in the district where it is located there are more than 5,000 businesses. For those who do not have much money, this is an excellent opportunity to rent housing not on the outskirts, but in a good district, close to their workplace.
And what about the downsides?
There are plenty of them, despite all the careful planning of the building’s infrastructure. The building’s main problem is the unauthorized remodeling, which was not always coordinated with the utility services. The makeshift partitions between apartments are most often very thin, and the soundproofing, accordingly, is nonexistent. For the same reason, smells – not always pleasant ones – travel easily throughout the building.
Because of the colossal load, the garbage chutes frequently break down, and there are interruptions in the water supply. And, of course, the fire safety of the structure, originally not designed for such a number of residents, raises a big question.
