Archinect - News

New scientific study provides vital data on sinking Chinese cities

2024-04-23T15:08:00-04:00

The toll of urbanization in China has been documented in a new paper published in the journal Science by a team of researchers from different institutions around the country. Using a method called spaceborne synthetic aperture radar interferometry (or InSAR), they were able to establish the rate at which land is subsiding in major cities, affecting over a third (36%) of the country's urban population.

The paper's abstract states that 45% of metro areas surveyed are now subsiding faster than 3 millimeters per year, with another 16% subsiding faster than 10 millimeters per year. By 2120, upwards of 26% of all coastal lands will have elevations below sea level. The source of the sinking is the combined weight of buildings and the depletion of groundwater around urban areas. "Our results underscore the necessity of enhancing protective measures to mitigate potential damages from subsidence," the authors stated.

These latest findings could potentially have bearings on the work of Turensc...

Foster + Partners tops out Shenzhen skyscraper inspired by rock formations and paper folding

2024-04-15T13:50:00-04:00

The Foster + Partners-designed China Merchants Bank Headquarters in Shenzhen has topped out. The office tower forms part of a wider mixed-use development, which, when completed, will form a “new city quarter” in Shenzhen.

Image credit: zhangchao via Foster + Partners

Externally, the tower is clad in glass and stainless steel, the result of an “iterative modeling process to minimize the energy consumption of active systems by carefully balancing solar shading, daylight and thermal loads,” according to the team. The tower’s north facade is inspired by rock formations in China with stacked bays varying in height, while the south-facing facade is inspired by the geometries of traditional paper folding.

Image credit: zhangchao via Foster + Partners

“The new tower is a unique addition to Shenzhen’s urban fabric and will be an enduring symbol of China Merchants Bank,” Foster + Partners Head of Studio Grant Brooker said about the scheme. “The building’s wide curved windows offer spectacular v...

Foster + Partners unveils latest Apple Store concept for Shanghai

2024-04-03T13:32:00-04:00

The latest Apple Store retail concept from Foster + Partners has been completed in Shanghai. The firm’s newest design for the company is located in Jing’an Park and forms the centerpiece of an urban regeneration that creates a permeable new connection between its site and the adjacent historic Jing’an Temple.

Stefan Behling, Head of Studio, Foster + Partners, describes: “We are delighted to have been given this great responsibility to create this transformative project for Shanghai. Our design reimagines the original plaza as a vibrant new public space, which provides places to sit and relax, drawing people in and respectfully enhancing the setting for the beautiful Jing’an Temple.”

Image courtesy Foster + Partners

Terraced seating placed on top of an elevated skywalk with gallery spaces gives the public a direct view of the Three Kingdoms era temple, framed by seasonal planting and Padang Light stone finishes that are repeated in the store’s walls and flooring.

Image courtesy Foste...

Büro Ole Scheeren realizes The Axiom high-rise design in Shanghai

2024-04-02T15:37:00-04:00

Büro Ole Scheeren has announced the completion of their latest high-rise design in Shanghai, called The Axiom. The 918-foot, 49-story tower is the first of two that will eventually form the heart of a mixed-use corporate campus known as The Springs on a central site in the Yangpu district for developer Tishman Speyer.

The design is punctuated midway by a striking offset structural core, which, according to the firm, is unique to just 3% of the 500 tallest buildings in the world.

Image: © Büro Ole Scheeren

Founder Ole Scheeren describes: “The Axiom is an emblem of the innovation that is now synonymous with Shanghai and forms an elegant urban landmark as the gateway to Yangpu District. Designed as a strategic hybrid of functionalism and iconicity, the twin towers represent the fluidity and dynamism of the future-oriented businesses they will accommodate.”

Image: © Büro Ole Scheeren

Rising from a shared podium base called the Culture Gate that connects to the surrounding development’s ...

SOM's tapering Star River Headquarters project completes in Guangzhou

2024-03-20T17:49:00-04:00

SOM has unveiled the newly completed Star River Headquarters project in Guangzhou, China, which it says is emblematic of the city’s late transformation into a national destination for trade and cultural tourism.

The 918-foot-tall office tower was realized at Pazhou Island and anchors a new block-size development that is helping to revitalize the city’s traditional hub for commerce and financial services.

Image: © Seth Powers/SOM

SOM says its design "represents a new class of office buildings" that are currently reshaping Guangzhou, joining the new Guangzhou Chamber of Commerce and Sany IROOTECH Headquarters from 2020 and 2025, respectively.

Image: © Seth Powers/SOM

From a distance, the tower's tapered parabolic silhouette stands prominently above a landscaped public plaza area and retail establishments below, utilizing a pleated effect that enables unique possibilities for the interplay of light and shadow on its facade.

Image: © Seth Powers/SOM

Vertical mullions running the length...

China will build replacement for Gensler soccer stadium design in Guangzhou following Evergrande debt scramble

2024-03-19T11:51:00-04:00

Chinese state-owned construction contractor will build China’s largest soccer park in Guangzhou on the site where struggling Chinese property developer China Evergrande Group was supposed to build its soccer stadium. China Construction Fourth Engineering Division won the engineering procurement construction contract to build the Guangzhou Football Park with a CNY2.4 billion (USD328 million) bid, the unit of China State Construction Engineering announced on its official WeChat account yesterday.

The site was originally meant for a 100,000-seat stadium designed by Gensler. Evergrande, the developer now embroiled in a Lehman Brothers-like freefall, had already begun construction before the project was halted and eventually taken over by the government in 2021. The new design from the Guangdong Architectural Design and Research Institute has a reduced capacity of 73.000, making it still the largest soccer-only stadium in China.

Previously on Archinect: One of China's largest property developers is roiled in a Lehman-esque debt spiral

The estimated cost of the original design it replaces was $1.7 billion. Gensler, meanwhile, has begun preliminary work assessing the potential for a new stadium on the site of a disused Westfield shopping center in its hometown of San Francisco.

Snøhetta unveils newly completed Beijing City Library design

2024-02-26T19:31:00-05:00

Snøhetta has shared new photos of its completed Beijing City Library design in the Chinese capital.

What is billed by the team to be the "world's largest climatized reading space" is composed of a glass curtain wall fronted by a forest of sculptural columns resembling ginko trees in a design that harkens the natural landscape to affect an "emotional connection" between people, books, and the environment.

Photo: Yumeng Zhu

Snøhetta says this is meant to challenge contemporary thinking on libraries and to disabuse designers (and critics) of the notion that the typology has become largely outmoded in the digital age.

Photo: Yumeng Zhu

Located in the city’s Tongzhou District, the library design was born out of a 2018 competition that paired the firm with local studio ECADI. Their effort was replete with integrated photovoltaic (BIPV) construction elements and other features aiming to reduce solar gain. This combines with the use of locally sourced construction materials...

MVRDV begins construction on overhaul of old Shanghai cement factory

2024-02-12T11:16:00-05:00

A team led by MVRDV has begun construction on a leisure and cultural district in Shanghai on the site of a disused cement factory. Named Gate M West Bund Dream Center, the project will transform a collection of buildings of different styles and time periods, “adapting a former industrial zone while making use of the existing structures and thus minimizing carbon emissions,” according to the team.

Image credit: Ucharm

Under the MVRDV scheme, developed with co-architect AISA, landscape architect Field Operations, and interior architects CL3 and Xu Studio, a series of disused buildings will be linked in a “cohesive whole” by a network of bright orange paths, stairs, ramps, and bridges. The site is organized around key landscaped axes including a central spine linking both ends of the district, while a “three-dimensional promenade” is created by a series of landscaped rooftops, elevated riverbank terraces, and a network of staircases and elevators finished in a defining orange color.

Ima...

MAD Architects completes ‘train station in the forest’ in China

2024-02-07T13:38:00-05:00

MAD Architects has completed their overhaul of the Jiaxing Train Station in China, described by the firm as a “train station in the forest.” Located in the city of Jiaxing, 60 miles southwest of Shanghai, the project included the replacement of an outdated train station that occupied the site from 1995 to 2019.

Image credit: Lu Bing

Image credit: AC

MAD’s approach saw the full-scale recreation of an original 1907 station that stood on the site alongside a “floating” metal roof above an expanded site. In order to reconstruct the old station, the firm collaborated with architectural experts and scholars to analyze a large amount of historical data, with the 210,000 red and green bricks used to construct the station made of mud sourced from the nearby South Lake.

Image credit: CreatAR Images

Image credit: AC

Surrounding the reconstructed station, MAD sought to create a complex “more humane and efficient than its predecessor.” The interior of the new hub maintains a dialogue with the recrea...

UNStudio completes Shanghai flagship store for Huawei behind ‘petal’ facade

2024-02-02T11:31:00-05:00

UNStudio has completed a flagship store for the Chinese communications giant Huawei in Shanghai.

Designed in collaboration with Huawei’s internal design team, the store seeks to create an “experience-rich concept that brings people, nature, and technology together and caters to consumer preferences.”

Image credit: Wen Studio

Image credit: Huawei

According to the architects, the design of the two-level store was inspired by biophilic forms that transition between indoor and outdoor conditions. Throughout the scheme’s interior and exterior, recycled materials are integrated to reduce the project’s environmental footprint, while detachable prefabricated systems are applied on floors and ceilings.

Image credit: Huawei

Image credit: Wen Studio

The building’s facade makes reference to the algorithm underscoring Huawei’s polar codes technology, with petal-like features appearing to be in different stages of growth, evolving in scale and rotation to form an “integrated geometric system that com...

China Evergrande ordered into liquidation after $300 billion debt spiral

2024-01-30T19:15:00-05:00

A court in Hong Kong has ordered the winding up of Evergrande Group, the world’s most indebted property developer, dealing another blow to investor confidence as China’s ailing real estate sector continues to weigh on its economy. The liquidation order, made by the city’s High Court on Monday, comes after the embattled Chinese real estate giant and its overseas creditors failed to agree on how to restructure the company’s massive debt during talks that lasted for 19 months.

Evergrande’s liquidation could also set the stage for an unprecedented political showdown between Hong Kong and the mainland, as Reuters speculated on Monday.

The company had amassed over $300 billion in public and private debts since being ordered into negotiations in 2021. Overseas creditors are currently owed a reported $25 billion. Dexter Roberts, a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council, was one of several experts to compare its collapse to the failure of Lehman Brothers in the American market in 2008.

MAD designs Chinese waterfront arts center as a ‘gentle ripple by the lake’

2024-01-04T11:35:00-05:00

MAD Architects has designed a waterfront arts center in China’s Foshan City described as a “gentle ripple by the lake.” When completed in 2029, the Nanhai Art Center will cover an area of 640,000 square feet, housing a grand theater, a museum, and a sports center.

Image credit: MAD Architects

The scheme has been conceived as a “continuous wave of water,” with the three main buildings sitting underneath a floating canopy comprised of a white, translucent ETFE membrane. The resulting blurring of outdoor and indoor spaces seeks to emphasize the prominence of the nearby lake in the scheme, encouraging the local community to embrace the waterfront as a part of the scheme’s cultural function.

Image credit: MAD Architects

“The traditional culture of Nanhai is in the drum beat and boat drift during the dragon festival boat race and in the kung-fu in the lion dance,” MAD founder Ma Yansong about the site’s context. “Watching them, you can feel the dynamic vibrant, and innovative spirit from an...

UNStudio designs a new four tower mixed-use scheme in Hangzhou, China

2024-01-03T13:10:00-05:00

UNStudio released renderings of its newly commissioned mixed-use design at the site of the Hangzhou Olympic Sports Centre in China. The Hiwell Amber Centre project was announced in October 2023 and will be built on a site located in the heart of Hangzhou’s new city center, Qianjiang Century City.

In homage to the local craft traditions of the region, UNStudio says they’ve designed the four-tower scheme to evoke a woven tapestry topping an expansive ‘Urban Living Room’ around and beneath it. Each 459-foot (140m) tower’s facade features a sweeping glass curtain wall tapering down parametrically to a shared plinth base.

The scheme calls for a mixed Andaz Hotel/office component, another office tower, and two shorter additional residential towers. An art museum, conference center, and hotel ballroom complete the design.

Image courtesy of UNStudio.

Principal Ben van Berkel says: “The architecture of the towers creates an effect of timeless simplicity. Within Hangzhou’s landmark-heavy sk...

LIN architecture designs a pumping station in rural China as a ‘paintbrush in the field’

2023-12-12T14:28:00-05:00

Chinese practice LIN architecture has completed a pumping house in the Yunnan Province village of Botou. Named the 'Concrete Pavilion,' the structure seeks to both meet the needs of locals’ water and electricity needs and give an architectural “breath of new life” to the rural landscape.

Photo credit: zhuo hongduo

Photo credit: chen zhitong

The pavilion is defined by sloping roofs, high and low windows, multiple external platforms, and a series of skylights. The elements incorporated into the scheme take their inspiration from those of the nearby village in a process the team calls “the extreme abstraction of cultural elements.” While incorporating the many viewing elements, the team sought to create different observation experiences, whether inside the pavilion, observing the countryside, or looking at the pavilion from different surrounding angles.

Photo credit: zhuo hongduo

“Although the constituent elements are common to architecture, they are organized in...

Zaha Hadid Architects inaugurates Zhuhai Jinwan Civic Art Centre in southern China

2023-12-06T18:53:00-05:00

Zaha Hadid Architects has shared photos of its newly inaugurated Zhuhai Jinwan Civic Art Centre in southern China.

The project integrates three separate facilities for art, scientific education, and culture into one coherent design with a 1,200-seat grand theater, 500-seat Black Box theater, science center, and art museum arranged symmetrically on a central axis.

A central plaza area bifurcates the larger and smaller venues of the design while serving as the connective foyer of all three new spaces. All five buildings at the site are supported by just 22 columns that were fabricated off-site in two varieties.

The separate functions of the center are further woven together via the network of reticulated shells forming the roof structure, which also evokes the chevron form of migratory bird patterns in the region while covering the complex's four wings. Additional public spaces were also created at the site thanks to the careful...

Heatherwick Studio's new Xi'an shopping district features ceramic paneling as 'sensory experience'

2023-11-20T12:16:00-05:00

Heatherwick Studio has announced their design for a new shopping center in Xi’an, China, they say will evoke the heritage of ceramics and other artistic creations endemic to the area with a completion date set for 2024.

Offering users a “sensory experience to challenge the emotional and aesthetic deprivation of online shopping,” the plan for the 1.23 million-square-foot district calls for a network of social spaces and interlocking program of mixed-scale buildings scattered throughout.

Image: MIR, courtesy of Heatherwick Studio

The design is broken down into three scales, appearing first as a green space with tapering rooflines inspired by surrounding local temples when viewed from a distance. At the street level, it will utilize a series of interlinked terraces and other landscaped spaces to offer enhanced pedestrianism and vistas of the city.

Image: Devisual, courtesy of Heatherwick Studio

The promised “sensory experience” is enacted most at the final human scale, and buildings are...

Foster + Partners designs Hangzhou master plan along a central ‘leafy spine’

2023-11-01T17:22:00-04:00

Foster + Partners has unveiled its design for a new master-planned center for the Chinese city of Hangzhou. Organized around a central landscaped axis, the master plan is described by the firm as a “green and interconnected mixed-use quarter.”

Image credit: Foster + Partners

The central axis is intended as a “leafy spine” guiding visitors through the district, bookended at each end by green space. While the north end holds a public park, a wetland in the south is connected to a new cultural hub.

Image credit: Foster + Partners

The axis itself holds several cultural centers, including a public library, exhibition hall, and galleries. Massing gradually steps up towards the axis, creating a defined skyline while seeking to “respect the site’s natural surroundings” as well. The density also increases around public transport hubs to encourage public transit use.

Image credit: Foster + Partners

“The master plan is organized around a 2.5-kilometer central axis that runs the full length of th...

Snøhetta's spiraling Shanghai Grand Opera House is taking form

2023-10-27T18:06:00-04:00

Snøhetta has shared photos revealing the construction status of their Shanghai Grand Opera House design ahead of its expected opening in 2025.

What’s most noticeable is the formation of the structure’s distinctive fan-shaped roof, which frames the Opera House’s spiraling form. This visual identity is evoked throughout the project, expressed through the winding staircase, the lobby, the halls, and the three auditoriums. The roof will operate as an accessible stage and meeting place, open to visitor access year-round.

Snøhetta was commissioned to design the Opera House following an international design competition.

Previously on Archinect: Snøhetta's spiraling design chosen for new Shanghai Grand Opera House

The project has set out to be an important component of a new urban master plan for Shanghai. The structure is being built in the Expo Houtan neighborhood, located at the convex bank in the riverside area near Huangpu River.

Check out more construction photos in Snøhetta's recent...

MAD to renovate Shanghai cement warehouse with floating metal ‘ark’

2023-10-27T11:33:00-04:00

MAD Architects has unveiled its design for the renovation and adaptive reuse of an old cement factory in Shanghai. The ‘Wanmicang’ warehouse sits on the south side of the Shanghai Zhangjiang Cement Factory grounds and has been reimagined by MAD as a “three-dimensional hierarchy of time and physical dimensions through the juxtaposition of old and new structures.”

Image credit: MAD Architects

Having ceased production in 2013 after decades as one of Shanghai’s largest cement factories, the site has been the subject of several commissions by architects aiming to preserve and reuse historical buildings while repositioning the site for research, cultural, commercial, and creative uses. Subsequently, MAD’s approach to the Wanmicang warehouse was to preserve the site’s industrial fabric while repurposing the site as a multifunctional public waterfront space holding culture, creativity, commercial, and office functions.

Image credit: MAD Architects

“Industrial heritage is preserved and utilize...

Neri&Hu completes Hainan Island wellness retreat inspired by ancient Chinese cities

2023-10-25T11:51:00-04:00

Neri&Hu has completed a wellness hotel on China’s Hainan Island. Named the Sanya Wellness Retreat, the scheme draws inspiration from the ancient Chinese walled city, which was typically elevated on a heavy plinth and surrounded by water. The resulting hotel is defined by two parts: a wooden dwelling comprising guest rooms and a masonry base beneath containing all public spaces.

Image credit: Chen Hao

The L-shaped building forms a water courtyard at the intersection of the two wings, serving a central feature from which all the hotel’s public amenities spread outwards. Meanwhile, the lobby forms a “garden landscape with a floating lantern hovering above that allows a gentle light to filter in,” while ceilings are lowered to frame views towards the sea.

Image credit: Chen Hao

“At every given opportunity, the design tries to embody the genius loci of Hainan, to blend elements from the island’s collective memory, culture, and natural features,” ...

Zaha Hadid Architects' new Chengdu Science Fiction Museum has opened in China

2023-10-24T17:41:00-04:00

Zaha Hadid Architects has shared photos and a video to coincide with this month's inauguration of its new Chengdu Science Fiction Museum project in China.

The culmination of the firm’s now 15-year-long foray into the country that has produced multiple science and cultural sector designs in addition to the new Beijing Daxing International Airport complex has yielded an over 635,000-square-foot structure replete with a variety of flexible interior spaces meant to showcase the region’s extraordinary contributions to the literary genre and located in the heart of Chengdu’s Science & Innovation New City Pidu district.

Photo: Lan Dongjie

The firm says the project is designed to emulate a nebula constellation with a star at its center, allowing visitors to embark from within a ‘star cloud’ that disperses energy directionally into different zones housing its various programmatic elements.

Photo: Arch-Exist

Inside, a skylit central atrium welcomes users into the museum experi...

NPR on sponge cities, Kongjian Yu, and the future of flood mitigation

2023-10-10T13:46:00-04:00

Almost all of China's medium and large cities are now susceptible to floods. And [Kongjian] Yu says 60% of them experience flooding every year. Extreme weather from climate change is exacerbating the problem. So Yu has been evangelizing a solution he calls "sponge cities." That is, urban landscapes that are softer and purposely designed to absorb more water. Gareth Doherty, an associate professor of landscape architecture at Harvard University, says the concept is revolutionary.

The contributions of Turenscape founder Kongjian Yu to the development of the so-called “Sponge City” concept date to the mid-90s, stemming from a near-death experience in his childhood home of Jinhua. He says that by the end of the decade, roughly 80% of Chinese cities will now be adequately equipped by the measures. However, just under 10% of the country's mid- to large-sized cities had any plans to implement the concept by the start of the year, according to Reuters.

The need for better stormwater strategies has since been proven in New York City and other low-lying American metros, too, with $2.6 billion worth of funding specifically included in the 2021 Federal Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill to combat the problem. Copenhagen is seen as a world leader in the concept after experiencing a tumultuous 2011 cloudburst that led to a two-part system of expanded sewers and over 300 surface catchment projects.

Still, Yu says the reliance on concrete and technological solutions remains a...

MVRDV transforms 1990s Shenzhen tower into ‘vibrant and colorful skyscraper’

2023-10-09T11:56:00-04:00

Construction has been completed on the MVRDV-designed Shenzhen Women & Children’s Centre, transforming an old mixed-use tower in the Chinese megacity into a “vibrant and colorful skyscraper.” The 330-foot-tall tower contains a hotel alongside a range of facilities for the welfare of women and children.

Image credit: Xia Zhi

The original tower was completed in 1994 during a period of rapid growth in Shenzhen. Plagued by two decades of fire safety concerns, the tower remained largely empty until the decision in 2019 to overhaul the building.

Existing tower before MVRDV's commission. Image credit: MVRDV

Image credit: Xia Zhi

MVRDV’s proposal for the tower saw the existing structure reused in an effort to avoid the carbon cost of demolishing and rebuilding. The most visible aspect of the transformation is a new facade featuring a grid of multicolored exterior frames. The new three-foot-deep envelope is designed to provide extra shading while also incorporating openable panels for natural v...

MAD designs culture and arts center in China inspired by mountainous tea fields

2023-09-15T11:55:00-04:00

MAD Architects has unveiled their design for the Anji Culture and Art Center near Shanghai, China. Set in a region containing a United Nations Habitat Award, the project is envisioned as a “transitional connecting space between the natural and built environments of the region,” including a city, river, and mountains.

Image credit: MAD Architects

Covering an area of 1.6 million square feet with a construction area of 1.3 million square feet, the center is composed of six venues: a Grand Theater, Conference Center, Leisure Center, Sports Center, Youth Activity Center, and Art Education Center. The venues are spread out beneath the center’s “bamboo leaves roof” and are surrounded by the region’s unique green tea fields.

Image credit: MAD Architects

MAD describes the center as a “porous meeting space that will be accessible to the public from all directions and at all times of day.” Arranged along an axis, the center’s central corrid...

Shma's rippling landscape adds to Neri&Hu-designed hotel in Zhengzhou

2023-08-21T15:21:00-04:00

Bangkok-based landscape architecture firm Shma Company Limited has introduced an elegant, small-scale landscape intervention in front of a Neri&Hu-designed hotel called Le Meridien in Zhengzhou City, China.

Image: Arch-exist

The renovation project comprises approximately 65,000 square feet of space in a densely populated area. The architects were tasked to create a hotel frontage landscape that improves the site’s overall appearance, in addition to enhancing ground parking and vehicular movement.

Image: Arch-exist

The project design pays tribute to Zhengzhou’s historical textile weaving industry through its sculptural landscape weaves and folds. A series of undulating lawn stripes represent silk being woven. The landscape and the existing building seamlessly integrate with each other. A water feature situated in front of the hotel’s lobby drop-off area serves as the main welcoming element.

Image: Arch-exist

Two colors, bronze and black, were used for the finishing of the stainless st...

Zaha Hadid Architects completes arching bridge across China’s Jiangxi River

2023-08-21T11:27:00-04:00

Construction has been completed on the Zaha Hadid Architects-designed Chengdu West First Bridge in China. Spanning 600 feet across the Jiangxi River, the bridge caters to motorists, cyclists, and pedestrians.

Image credit: Liang Xue

The symmetrical bridge comprises two primary steel arches that rise from either side of the road deck. The arches lean together as they rise to touch tangentially at the bridge's peak, offering stability from lateral wind loads.

Image credit: Arch Exist

Image credit: Liang Xue

The bridge’s arches are tied together at their base by longitudinal box girders that run along the edge of the road deck. The ties are designed to counteract the outward horizontal pressure of each arch and thus significantly reduce the horizontal loads on the bridge’s foundations.

Image credit: Arch Exist

“The dynamic curvature of the bridge’s supporting piers and abutments taper into its primary arches and road deck, defining a sculptural landmark within Chengdu’s transport infrastru...

Zaha Hadid Architects designs Xi’an tower with ‘gently curving silhouette’

2023-08-08T12:26:00-04:00

Zaha Hadid Architects has released images of their proposed Daxia Tower in Xi’an, China. The tower will form part of the city’s high-tech zone, which is repositioning the city from its historic Silk Road roots to become a “major hub for new technology.”

Image credit: ATCHAIN, courtesy of Zaha Hadid Architects

The 700-foot-tall tower will contain over 1.3 million square feet of offices, retail, and ancillary facilities. The scheme’s “gently curving silhouette” is accentuated by layers of patterned glazing and large atriums to increase natural light volumes internally. Each atrium creates a “cascade of planted interior terraces that echo mountainside waterfalls,” while also offering views of the historic city and high-tech zone.

Image credit: ATCHAIN, courtesy of Zaha Hadid Architects

“Optimizing natural daylighting and ventilation using high-performance low-emissivity, unitized glazing with a thermal coating and insulated for low U-values to reduce energy demand and enhance efficiencie...

SOM's two-tower office complex in Guangzhou has topped out

2023-08-04T15:36:00-04:00

SOM’s striking two-tower project, the Sany IROOTECH Headquarters in Guangzhou, China, has officially topped out at 669 feet. Situated in the city’s rapidly developing Pazhou business district, the structure was built for construction equipment company Sany’s new cloud technology arm.

Photo: SOM and Mo Peihua

The 1.9 million-square-foot complex is comprised of two Class A office towers. One will serve as the company’s headquarters, with the other being a leasable tenant space. Both structures are united by an external system of five-story steel columns that rise in a diamond grid pattern, which creates a self-shading façade. The diagrid system also contributes to the building’s resilience against seismic activity and strong winds.

Rendering courtesy of SOM

The design allows the floors to be suspended from the structure, ridding the need for interior columns. Landscaped terraces are also featured at five-floor intervals across the façade.

The towers sit atop an elevated podium, which br...

Rocco Design Architects' new Shenzhen tower features a seven-level internal courtyard

2023-08-04T11:29:00-04:00

Rocco Design Architects has released photographs of their newly-completed Essence Financial Securities tower in Shenzhen. The 635-foot-tall high-rise combines two separate headquarters offices, financial trading halls, and commercial office space in a self-described “vertical neighborhood.”

Image credit: Rocco Design Architects

The building's exterior design elevates the main body of the tower, creating a pedestrian passage that connects the entrance plaza to the wider Futian district. At the base of the tower, a volume clad with green walls is topped by a public roof deck that extends into a public plaza, while above, pedestrian sky bridges link the tower to nearby buildings.

Image credit: Rocco Design Architects

Image credit: Zhang Chao Studio

Inside, the tower’s defining elements are a series of triple- and septuple-height internal courtyards. Located within the three stacks of floors at the upper heights of the tower, the courtyards sit in voids...

New construction updates on Zaha Hadid Architects' pedestrian bridge project in Hangzhou, China

2023-07-28T13:34:00-04:00

Zaha Hadid Architects has shared a new video detailing the construction progress of its pedestrian bridge project over the Grand Canal in Hangzhou, China.

Concrete arches are now in place for the bridge, which is located not far from the site of the firm’s recently announced multivenue sports complex. The design connects with the larger ‘Seamless City’ masterplan, which is underway on both sides of the city’s Qiantang River.

A video of the bridge’s progress can be viewed below courtesy of Hangzhou CBD Development Group.

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A post shared by Zaha Hadid Architects (@zahahadidarchitects)

The firm shares: “The new 320m pedestrian bridge defines the Grand Canal’s southern gateway on the Qiantang River, marking the start of the canal’s journey 1776 km north to Beijing. China’s most historic man-made waterway, some sections of the Grand Canal date back to the 5th century BC.”