World-class Twisting Tower Glows in Ballet of Light

Aedas-designed Chongqing Gaoke Group Ltd Office Project stands at the north of Xingfu Plaza, Jiangbei District of Chongqing. As the construction progresses, the project has started to reveal its grand gesture in the city center. The vertical façade expression interweave with linear curves, to compose a fluid visual rhythm of the design. This project is expected to be completed in 2022, positioning itself as one of the “Most Twisting Towers in the world”.

The surrounding environment has already been developed, and one big challenge for the designer is to interpret planning concept of “solar”, into an iconic landmark well-integrated in the existing community context.

“As an open public space, the tower has all the credits to be a city icon. The significant twisting of the facade will catch everyone’s eyeballs.” Inspired by the dancing aurora, Global Design Principal Ken Wai and his team, has introduced an impressive façade design through bottom-to-top connections between northern and eastern sides. The ‘ballet of light’ is characterised by the juxtaposition of rectilinear forms and tower facades with double curves. Such curvaceous façade expression offers ever-changing perspectives around the development. When the sun rises, the curved facade shines, and the tower becomes the building of light. When night falls, the curved facade showcases reflections that allude to the dancing figure of a ballerina. The podium roof extends a coherent statement of sliding twist from top to bottom, echoing with the geometry of the tower and maintaining a consistent architectural style.

The magnificent twisting sculpts an impressive torsional shape for the tower. The maximum twisting angle is up to 8.8 degrees per floor, noticeably surpassing existing super high-rise tower in the world by nearly 1.5 times (CTBUH Journal, 2016 Issue 3). After completion, it is expected to be one of “The Most Twisting Towers in the world”. Innovative façade technology from RFR empowers precise execution of such challenging design.

The unique twisting results in a high double-curvature ratio, which poses a major challenge for the overall façade system. Ken Wai and RFR joint hands to leverage on the cold bend glass technique and BIM on complex geometry façade for a magic solution. Such innovation is to adapt to the changing geometric parameters and dimensions, while fulfilling requirements on safety, waterproof and thermal performance. It also ensures a consistent façade construction in line with BIM simulations. The system of cold bend glass on 3D frame façade component enables a maximum of 86mm in glass deviation, realizing a record-breaking design in China. From overall geometry analysis, façade component modeling & clash-checking, LOD400 detail component modeling, automotive data exporting and auditing, 3D BIM has been utilised throughout the façade design process.

“The façade is not only an outlook expression, but also a way of protection that sculpts interior spaces.” Ken explained. His delicate design has been articulated for the top of the tower, by conveying the conceptual “Valley of Light” through the transparent glass façade and lightings, to make a coherent statement. Such concept differentiates the crown of this tower from other office spaces. The plant room, BMU and other facilities are centralize inside the “Valley” on the top of the building, achieving functional unity without undermining the visual aesthetics.

As for the master layout, Ken has put thorough consideration to the surrounding environment and the building volume. The tower is located of the left side of the mall, minimizing the towering effect on the adjacent parts of the development, and establishing interactive connections in between. The tower sets back northwards, to connect podium and the mall at the south. A variety of public space for civic leisure has thus been created. The underpass to its west leads easy access to the existing shopping center, as a sensible approach to improve commercial value of underground space.

Status: Under Construction
Location: Chongqing, CN
Firm Role: Design Architect
Additional Credits: Façade Consultant: RFR Shanghai Co. Ltd.