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.”

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.

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 at the center of the floorplates, acting as communal spaces to visually connect the office clusters.

To make the courtyards structurally viable, the design team developed a structural system using a twin-side core with an exoskeleton reinforced by horizontal trusses. The centers of the floorplates were thus freed to allow extensive cut-throughs. Beyond their spatial appeal, the courtyards also serve to improve natural light and ventilation through a chimney effect.

While the courtyard volumes house the headquarters offices, the mid-section of the tower holds communal functions, executive offices, and a double-height lecture theater. The lower levels feature commercial offices and a sky lounge with amenities, including a gym, conference rooms, and social areas.

The tower is one of several recently completed schemes to feature in our editorial. Last week, we covered a ‘culinary emporium’ placed inside an old Toronto postal station, while earlier in July, we featured three upgraded Columbia University science labs by SGVA. Other recently featured developments include a leadership center in Rwanda defined by woven eucalyptus screens and a 3D printed passage in Delft which reinterprets traditional ceramic crafts.