OMA has won the design competition for the Essence Financial Building in Shenzhen. The project, led by OMA Partners David Gianotten and Rem Koolhaas, and designed as a new generation office tower for Shenzhen, was selected from entries by four competing international and Chinese architectural practices.
The Essence Financial Building, located in the Financial Development Area of Shenzhen, reflects on how the emergent forces in business and society could shape a contemporary office tower typology. The building challenges the many conventions that govern office tower designs, in particular the prevailing central core plan and curtain wall systems.
David Gianotten commented: “OMA is very excited about its continuous and deepening participation in Shenzhen’s development, especially as the city makes its latest evolution: from a manufacturing city into a services hub. This next generation of urbanism calls for a new generation of office towers, of which the Essence Financial Building could be one.” The Essence Financial Building will be OMA’s second building in Shenzhen: the Shenzhen Stock Exchange, for which OMA won the competition in 2006, will be completed in April this year.
The Essence Financial Building shifts its core to the edge of the floor plate, resulting in large unobstructed plans that allow a variety of office configurations—and therefore working styles—that meet the demands of the contemporary services industry. Direct and open additional connections between floors can be created to cater for visual and physical contact between departments. The building rationalizes programs into unique volumes, which are then maneuvered to create the distinct form of the building, as well as a viewing platform overlooking the Shenzhen Golf Club, and shaded outdoor recreational spaces for staff.
The façade of the building is an architectural translation of the sun and solar gain diagrams, as well as to the views from each side of the tower. Each face thus takes on a unique pattern. The East and West facades are less penetrable, in response to the low-hitting sun, while the South façade has gradated openings: the size of the windows increases down the building in proportion to the decrease of solar penetration. The North façade opens toward Fuhua First Road.
The project was developed together with SADI, YRG, SWA, Inhabit, and AECOM.
About OMA
OMA is a leading international partnership practicing architecture, urbanism, and cultural analysis. OMA’s buildings and masterplans around the world insist on intelligent forms while inventing new possibilities for content and everyday use. AMO, a research and design studio, works in areas beyond architecture that today have an increasing influence on architecture itself: media, politics, renewable energy, technology, publishing, fashion.
OMA is led by seven partners—Rem Koolhaas, Ellen van Loon, Reinier de Graaf, Shohei Shigematsu, Iyad Alsaka, David Gianotten and Managing Partner, Victor van der Chijs—and sustains an international practice with offices in Rotterdam, New York, Beijing and Hong Kong, employing a staff of around 350.
OMA Asia was established in 2006 in Beijing, with the main task of overseeing the construction of the (now completed) CCTV Headquarters. OMA’s Hong Kong office, established in 2009, oversees the construction of several projects: the Taipei Performing Arts Center, the Chu Hai College of Higher Education in Hong Kong, and the Shenzhen Stock Exchange. Projects led by OMA Hong Kong vary in typology and scale, ranging from interior projects to buildings and large scale masterplans. Completed works by OMA Hong Kong include the Edouard Malingue Gallery (2010), McKinsey’s new Hong Kong office and Malahon 13 Dental Practice, (both 2011). Ongoing projects include the design of the new Tencent Headquarters in Beijing, the SSI towers in Jakarta and the YLBX masterplan in Hanoi.
OMA Asia is led by OMA partner David Gianotten and associates Dongmei Yao, Adam Frampton, Ravi Kamisetti and Michael Kokora, and has around 85 employees.
Related Stories
| Apr 5, 2011
Top 10 Buildings: Women in Architecture
Making selections of top buildings this week led to a surprising discovery about the representation of women in architecture, writes Tom Mallory, COO and co-founder, OpenBuildings.com. He discovered that finding female-created architecture, when excluding husband/wife teams, is extremely difficult and often the only work he came across was akin to interior design.
| Apr 5, 2011
What do Chengdu, Lagos, and Chicago have in common?
They’re all “world middleweight cities” that are likely to become regional megacities (10 million people) by 2025—along with Dongguan, Guangzhou, Hangzhou, Shenzhen, Tianjin, and Wuhan (China); Kinshasa (Democratic Republic of the Congo); Jakarta (Indonesia); Lahore (Pakistan); and Chennai (India), according to a new report from McKinsey Global Institute: “Urban World: Mapping the economic power of cities”.
| Mar 30, 2011
China's low-carbon future city
In 2005, the Chinese government announced its target to reduce energy consumption per GDP unit by 20% by the year 2010. After a multi-billion investment, that target has been reached. The Chinese Climate Protection Program’s goal to increase energy efficiency, develop renewable energies, and promote energy savings while reducing pollutant emissions and strengthening environmental protection is reflected in the “Future City” by SBA Design.
| Mar 30, 2011
Is the AEC industry at risk of losing its next generation leaders without better mentoring?
After two or three horrifying years for the AEC industry, we are finally seeing the makings of a turnaround. However, data developed by Kermit Baker as part of the AIA Work-on-the-Boards survey program indicates that between 17% and 22% of design firms are eliminating positions for interns and staff with less than six years of experience. This data suggests the industry is at risk of losing a large segment of its next generation of leaders if something isn't done to improve mentoring across the profession.
| Mar 29, 2011
City's design, transit system can ease gas costs
Some cities in the U.S. are better positioned to deal with rising gas prices than others because of their design and transit systems, according to CEOs for Cities, a Chicago-based nonprofit that works to build stronger cities. The key factor: whether residents have to drive everywhere, or have other options.