Foster + Partners has completed the new headquarters for leading drone and camera company DJI in Shenzhen, China. Described by the design team as a “heart of innovation” for the company, the scheme’s two towers rise 40 and 44 stories to a height of 105 meters (344 feet).

Inside the headquarters, office and research spaces are arranged as floating volumes cantilevered from central cores, supported by large megatrusses and circular profiled steel suspension rods. 

Such a system, rare for high-rise towers, was chosen to negate the need for internal columns and to allow for quadruple-height drone flight testing labs. The imprint of the quadruple-height labs can also be seen on the external façade via distinct V-shaped trusses.

The two towers are linked by a 90-meter-long (295-foot-long) suspension bridge, described by the design team as “a lightweight element that creates an elegant connection between the two volumes.” Meanwhile, each floating volume cantilevering off the towers’ cores is topped by skygardens for outdoor private staff areas.

At the ground level, the team sought to create an “open and inviting” entrance through the use of a publicly-accessible sloping garden around the base of the building, linked to a community healthcare center and other public facilities. Access to the towers’ upper levels is via a TWIN lift system which reduces the number of lift shafts required, thus increasing the usable office floor area.

Other innovative features embedded in the towers include an intelligent control system to reduce energy consumption during off-peak periods, a rainwater harvesting and re-use system, recycled greywater for irrigation, and the landscaped areas’ dual function as an absorbent for rainwater and a buffer during Shenzhen’s monsoon season.

“Drone technology has changed the way we experience the world around us, while pushing the boundaries of aerial possibilities,” Norman Foster remarked on the scheme’s completion. “I have enjoyed using DJI’s products since the beginning, so we are delighted to have partnered with DJI in creating their new headquarters in Shenzhen, which will be the company’s premier center of research and innovation.”

The scheme is one of many recently completed by Foster + Partners, including their Kuwait skyscraper with concrete curving fins, an innovative retrofit of an old Spanish gas plant, and a pyramid-like museum in Datong, China.

Earlier this week, the firm’s founder Norman Foster unveiled a new set of sustainable urban design principles ahead of COP27, while back in August, it emerged that the firm was suing an Indian government contractor over unpaid design fees on a scrapped master plan.