Bitexco Financial Tower, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

Helicopters welcome, rich residents even more so.Height: 262 meters

Cost to build: US$220 million

Completion date: October 31, 2010

Fast fact: With speeds of seven meters per second, the elevators in the building are the third-fastest in the world.
The Bitexco Financial Tower may no longer be the tallest building in Vietnam, but it still defines Ho Chi Minh City’s skyline.

Designed to represent Vietnam’s national flower, the lotus, this 262-meter skyscraper is meant to characterize the beauty and growth of the city below.

It's ambitious, and it's in your face, much like its host city. 

There's an observation deck on the 47th floor, where visitors get a 360-degree view of HCMC, and a helipad on the 50th level, creating one of the structures most salient features. 

Overall structure

The judging criterias for Bitexco Financial Tower’s award were based on the sophisticated and sustainable structure that built with 21st century construction standards, innovative structural engineering decisions which influenced basement excavation, helipad assemblage, and the outrigger truss design, along with high safety practices onsit.

 The first Grade A plus commercial property in Ho Chi Minh City, BFT set new benchmarks for Vietnam’s construction industry. Constructed by an international development team, and built to world-class standards. LERA was the structure engineering consultant and Carlos Zapata Studio was the architectural firm behind the delicate lotus flower design of BFT, a fitting image that emblems for Vietnam’s rapid development and growing importance as an emerging economy.