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Mid-day Update

Building skyscrapers at record speed

David Brancaccio and Jeremy Hobson Mar 12, 2012

Call it a “Pop Up Skyscraper.” A 30-story hotel project was erected in China in just two weeks.

How do you do this? And another clear and present question is, could this really be safe?

Here to talk with us is John Quale, of the University of Virginia School of Architecture.

According to him, the building was mostly built in parts off site, then brought to the location pieced together quickly. And while it isn’t likely to happen quite so quickly here in the U.S., there is a growing demand for such modular buildings — which also have environmental benefits.

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