Ifs International Finance Center

The Chengdu International Finance Center is marked by a massive, hollowed-out metal sculpture of a giant panda scaling its exterior wall. The creature appears to be climbing toward the roof, its belly pressed against the glass and steel facade. Developers finished the complex in two thousand fourteen, creating a vertical city that houses offices, apartments, and a sprawling shopping mall. Before the project rose, this district held smaller markets and local shops that served the immediate neighborhood for generations.