Architecture firm Goettsch has been hired by developer China Resources Land Limited to design a massive project located in Neighborhood 2 of Shenzhen’s Qianhai district. The project covers 6.18 hectares and includes five commercial towers totaling 450,000 square meters—the firm’s largest project to-date in China.
The overall development totals 503,000 square meters and includes three office towers, a five-star hotel tower, an apartment tower, shopping mall, and retail stores. Goettsch is designing all of the towers, as well as the hotel and apartment podiums and their affiliated program spaces. UK-based design firm Benoy is developing the master plan and designing the shopping mall and retail areas.
The Qianhai district is a special economic zone designated for an ambitious $45 billion overall development to transform the 15-square-kilometer area into the “Manhattan of the Pearl River Delta.” Neighborhood 2 is the most recent of three Qianhai parcels sold.
The overall design concept is one of a unified complex composed of buildings with related yet individual exterior characteristics and facades designed with a textured elegance that differentiates them from the surrounding blue-glass buildings of Shenzhen.
A metallic-painted aluminum frame with consistent spacing between verticals prioritizes internal planning flexibility for the office towers. The spacing between horizontal frame elements varies from a two-story to a four-story rhythm in order to respond more individually to each office building’s height and proportions.
The frame’s vertical component is accentuated by means of double fins; this character is countered by an expression of double horizontal fins on the hotel and apartment towers that create a related yet different appearance while affording maximum flexibility for views and natural ventilation.
“We are delighted and honored to win this prestigious commission,” said James Zheng, AIA, LEED AP, President of Goettsch Partners. “We are confident to design a modern, bold and highly sustainable world class complex for the new Qianhai district.”
The commission marks Goettsch Partner’s latest project for China Resources Land. Other assignments include the Grand Hyatt Dalian, an over 400-meter-tall mixed-use tower in Nanning, the Hotel Kapok Shenzhen Bay, and two additional towers at Shenzhen Bay.
Related Stories
| Jul 15, 2014
Michael Graves talks with Washington Post about new design eye from life in a wheelchair
Celebrated American architect Michael Graves sits with the Washington Post to talk about how being on a wheelchair changed the way he focuses on design.
| Jul 15, 2014
A look into the history of modular construction
Modular construction is more than a century old, and throughout its lifespan, the methods have been readapted to meet specific needs of different eras.
| Jul 15, 2014
AECOM to buy URS Corporation in $6 billion deal
Together, the firms will form a massive global giant with more than $19 billion in revenue and 95,000 employees in 150 countries.
| Jul 14, 2014
Meet the bamboo-tent hotel that can grow
Beijing-based design cooperative Penda designed a bamboo hotel that can easily expand vertically or horizontally.
| Jul 14, 2014
Foster + Partners unveils triple-glazed tower for RMK headquarters
The London-based firm unveiled plans for the Russian Copper Company's headquarters in Yekaterinburg.
| Jul 14, 2014
Toyota selects developer for its new North American headquarters in Plano, Texas
Toyota announced that it has selected Dallas-based KDC Real Estate Development & Investments to develop its new North American headquarters campus in the Legacy West development in Plano, Texas.
| Jul 13, 2014
Punishing deadline can’t derail this prison health facility [2014 Building Team Awards]
A massive scope, tough schedule, and technical complexity fail to daunt the Building Team for a huge California correctional project.
| Jul 11, 2014
First look: Jeanne Gang reinterprets San Francisco Bay windows in new skyscraper scheme
Chicago architect Jeanne Gang has designed a 40-story residential building in San Francisco that is inspired by the city's omnipresent bay windows.
| Jul 11, 2014
$44.5 million Centennial Hall opens at University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire
Centennial Hall houses the College of Education and Human Sciences and consolidates teacher education. It is the first new academic building on the UW-Eau Claire campus in more than 30 years.
| Jul 11, 2014
Are these LEGO-like blocks the future of construction?
Kite Bricks proposes a more efficient way of building with its newly developed Smart Bricks system.