The Pentagon in the United States has been a myth of administrative architecture in the world for a long time.
But who would have thought that this myth has now been shattered by India. Many netizens ridiculed that India is clamoring every day to challenge China's infrastructure to no avail, and has changed its head to challenge the United States.
Surat Diamond Exchange, India, is the largest office building in India. To this end, India did not hesitate to invest 32 billion rupees, or about 2.8 billion yuan, and it took nearly four years to build.
In terms of challenges, India has succeeded. Located in Surat, Gujarat, India, the Surat Diamond Exchange consists of nine rectangular, 15-storey buildings covering an area of 62 hectares, which is slightly larger than the Pentagon of the United States, with a total area of 60.8 hectares, and has become the largest office complex in the world.
The complex houses around 4,700 offices with 131 elevators and provides office space for more than 65,000 employees. From the outside, the towers are closely connected to form a sprawling whole, revealing an unrivalled scale and imposing force.
On December 17, 2023, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi even attended the ribbon-cutting ceremony for the opening of the Surat Diamond Exchange, opening a new chapter in the world's legendary office complex, noting that the exchange will create 150,000 jobs and establish a new centralized office platform for business people.
Although all this seems exciting, in fact, there are many difficulties encountered in the construction process, and it was even delayed for about half a year before it was delivered. This should be from two aspects: design requirements and construction difficulties.
First of all, as a place that can accommodate 65,000 people, the design should consider the convenience and safety of the flow of people. The exchange has designed a walkable corridor that spans all floors, similar to an airport terminal, unifying the horizontal and longitudinal.
At the same time, by optimizing the distance from the entrance to the farthest office unit so that it does not exceed 7 minutes, the traffic efficiency is further improved and it is not easy to cause congestion.
Secondly, the office building is full of diamond production and sales companies, and the most important thing is that there is enough sunlight to see the color of the diamonds and better polishing, so the design of the 15 buildings is arranged in opposite directions alternately, and the height and spacing of the buildings are carefully calculated to ensure that each office is full of sunlight.
The design also enhances livability and comfort. The Exchange goes beyond the traditional glass-enclosed, mechanically cooled office buildings and is designed to cater to the lifestyle of the diamond trading community. The central axis serves as the backbone of the building, creating an interactive center of rest spaces, a green atrium, and a large number of visual experiences, with a flared end to facilitate ventilation.
In addition, the design also takes into account the issues of energy conservation and environmental protection. About half of the Exchange's buildings are equipped with groundwater cooling systems and radiative cooling technology to reduce indoor temperatures. At the same time, the common areas are also powered by solar energy, which further reduces energy consumption.
One operation that is more in line with Indian trading habits is to design a large green space, because the traditional Indian diamond business likes to sit under the tree and talk about cooperation.
But even with all the difficulties in designing the renderings, India still struggled with construction.
Because Surat has always been a traditional trading market in India, industrial raw materials are insufficient, even if more than 6,000 workers are arranged, there is no way to start work without materials, and can only be transported from other places, but it is still not enough, and in 2019, it almost came to a standstill.
Finally, after searching for materials within a radius of 500 miles, the Indians began to build factories nearby to produce their own building materials such as glass. It was only after all these difficulties that India finally postponed the completion of the world's largest administrative building, fulfilling India's dream of challenging the United States' infrastructure.
But why is it so difficult, and why is it necessary to spend a lot of money and manpower and time to build this Surat Diamond Exchange? What is India trying to do just to challenge the United States?
Not exactly. Surat has the world's largest diamond-processing industry. According to statistics, nearly ninety percent of the world's diamonds are cut and polished here, making Surat an important base for diamond processing in the world. But in the past, Surat's economic efficiency was very mediocre, because although there were a large number of processing enterprises, the most profitable sales were carried out in Mumbai.
Therefore, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi made it clear in his speech that India's share of the global gem and jewelry export market is only 3.5%, which has significant limitations. Therefore, he has high hopes for the establishment of the Surat Diamond Exchange, which will be a central force in driving India's share of gem and jewellery exports.
To strengthen the industry's competitiveness, Modi has introduced a series of incentives and listed the gemstone and jewellery industry as a key strategic area to boost exports with a view to achieving greater growth and breakthroughs in the future.
Then, the usual "positive optimism" of the Indians also led them to fantasize about the future, and around the Surat Diamond Exchange, they sketched a whole beautiful "city of dreams".
Covering an area of 7 square kilometres, this city of dreams is home to all of India's diamond industry and derivative industries.
But this should not be possible in the short term.
First of all, the Surat Diamond Exchange is a well-established diamond exchange, bringing together the world's top diamond cutters, traders and investors, and has become a hub for India's trade innovation and cooperation.
Secondly, it took a lot of effort to build 620,000 hectares of office buildings in India, and it took four and a half years to complete the construction with an investment of 32 billion rupees.
Talking about India's threat to challenge China's infrastructure. After the completion of the Surat Diamond Exchange, some netizens said that it was not as big as a small area in China.
It has to be said that China's infrastructure strength is outstanding and leading in the world, and its scale and speed are remarkable.
For example, China's high-speed railway construction has achieved leapfrog development from scratch in just a few years, becoming one of the most developed high-speed railway networks in the world.
In addition, China has a number of world-leading technological achievements in the fields of bridges, tunnels, and water conservancy facilities. One of the most typical representatives is the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge, as the world's longest sea-crossing bridge, its design and construction technology have reached the world's advanced level.
China has not only provided strong support for China's economic development and social progress, but also provided valuable experience and contributions to global infrastructure construction.
This is not something that India, which has worked hard to build even a 620,000-hectare office building, is not something they can challenge, and it is not recommended that they want to.
Resources:
"Super Pentagon: India Builds the World's Largest Office Building-China News Network"
"India Opens World's Largest Office Complex!Modi: Will Create 150,000 Jewellery Jobs" with Analysis of India's Lab-grown Diamond Industry
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