Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM) has unveiled its design for Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba’s new 75,000-square-meter (807,209-square-foot) campus expansion in Shanghai.

The building is designed to recall a cloud in reference to the computing technology that has propelled its 23-year ascension into the upper echelon of corporate multinationals under the stewardship of founder Jack Ma.

SOM will help the now $300 billion company accommodate its expanding workforce with a modular design beset by biophilic elements and a network of indoor-outdoor “collaboration bridges” designed to increase productivity and induce healthier work habits in line with Norman Foster’s gridlike headquarters building to be located next door.

“‘The only constant is change’ is one of Alibaba’s guiding principles,” SOM’s Scott Duncan said in a press statement. “We took this ethos to heart, designing a workplace capable of evolving and adapting to new needs, teams, and technologies over time. The headquarters is designed in dialogue with the existing campus, inverting the neighboring building as it unfolds across cantilevered masses and staggered, green terraces.”

The changeling design thus includes flexible, column-free interior spaces and a series of interconnected terraces that allow workers views of the nearby Huangpu River. It has a high-performance facade capable of redirecting up to 40% of solar heat gain and an AI-controlled shading system that can be programmed to respond to the sun’s movement and intensity. 

This latest project marks the firm’s second major corporate campus design for Shanghai in the last decade-plus behind the Huawei Technologies campus, which was completed in 2011. In a project announcement, SOM says their finished product will offer a “distinctive, modular design [that] is both highly efficient and flexible over time, allowing for expansive long-span spaces and a variety of enclosed areas for a diversity of workstation layouts as teams ebb and flow.”