Completed in 1990 as the Hong Kong headquarters of the Bank of China, this tower by I. M. Pei rises 1,205 feet to the top of its masts. It was the first building outside the United States to pass 1,000 feet, and the tallest in Asia until 1992.
Its striking shape comes from a frame of interlocking triangles, wrapped in glass. The triangles carry the weight of the whole tower down to just four steel columns at its corners. The structural engineer was Leslie Robertson, known for the original World Trade Center, and it was the first high-rise built with a composite space frame.
The building stirred controversy because the bank skipped the custom of consulting feng shui masters, and some practitioners criticized its sharp edges. Today it is one of Hong Kong's most recognizable landmarks.
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