In Guangzhou, China, Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM) has designed the recently completed Star River Headquarters to minimize embodied carbon, reduce energy consumption, and create a healthy work environment. The 48-story tower is located in the business district on Guangzhou’s Pazhou Island.
The tower’s pleated façade ascends in a parabolic taper, which reduces wind loads while creating vertical planes of light and shadow. This design provides shading to reduce direct sunlight while at the same time allowing diffuse daylight to enter the interior spaces. In addition, the envelope’s high-performance curtain wall systems and thermal insulation reduce cooling loads and improve indoor comfort.
Building design features rounded corners, open floor plates
Individual bays formed by the pleats can accommodate both open and closed offices on the building’s perimeter. The building’s rounded corners are free of columns, creating open floor plates with views of the Pearl River.
Mullions that run the entire building height of 259.5 meters (851 feet) integrate operable panels, so occupants have direct access to fresh air. The building’s crown features a latticed structure containing a greenhouse with heritage plants and a pavilion with a reflecting pool.
The building is located on a public plaza with native landscaping and paved areas around the glass-enclosed lobby. The building’s canopy wraps around the base and extends above a retail building, forming a covered pedestrian arcade. This design also conceals the mechanical spaces on the block’s edge. Visitors can access the retail offerings and subway connection below grade.
The building management system includes environmental control standards, plant monitoring, and a user interface that allows for efficient operations.
On the Building Team:
Owner/developer: Guangzhou Star River Commercial Investment And Development Co, Ltd.
Design architect: Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM)
Architect of record: Guangzhou Design Institution
MEP engineer and structural engineer: SOM
General contractor: Zhongtian Construction Group Co., Ltd.
Interior design: ChengChung + Design
Lighting design: Leox Design Partnership|
Façade consultant: Shanghai PFT Construction Consulting Co.
![Photo by Seth Powers, courtesy SOM](/sites/default/files/inline-images/Pazhou%20Star%20River-final-tiff-1_large.jpg)
![Star River Headquarters, designed by SOM. Photo by Seth Powers, courtesy SOM](/sites/default/files/inline-images/Pazhou%20Star%20River-final-tiff-2_large.jpg)
![Star River Headquarters, designed by SOM. Photo by Seth Powers, courtesy SOM](/sites/default/files/inline-images/Pazhou%20Star%20River-final-tiff-3_large.jpg)
![Star River Headquarters, designed by SOM. Photo by Seth Powers, courtesy SOM](/sites/default/files/inline-images/Pazhou%20Star%20River-final-tiff-7_large.jpg)
![Star River Headquarters, designed by SOM. Photo by Seth Powers, courtesy SOM](/sites/default/files/inline-images/Pazhou%20Star%20River-final-tiff-8-fix_large.jpg)
![Star River Headquarters, designed by SOM. Photo by Seth Powers, courtesy SOM](/sites/default/files/inline-images/Pazhou%20Star%20River-final-tiff-12_large.jpg)
![Star River Headquarters, designed by SOM. Photo by Seth Powers, courtesy SOM](/sites/default/files/inline-images/Pazhou%20Star%20River-final-tiff-13_large.jpg)
![Star River Headquarters, designed by SOM. Photo by Seth Powers, courtesy SOM](/sites/default/files/inline-images/Pazhou%20Star%20River-final-tiff-14_large.jpg)
![Star River Headquarters, designed by SOM. Photo by Seth Powers, courtesy SOM](/sites/default/files/inline-images/Pazhou%20Star%20River-final-tiff-15_large.jpg)
![Star River Headquarters, designed by SOM. Photo by Seth Powers, courtesy SOM](/sites/default/files/inline-images/Pazhou%20Star%20River-final-tiff-16_large.jpg)
![Star River Headquarters, designed by SOM. Photo by Seth Powers, courtesy SOM](/sites/default/files/inline-images/Pazhou%20Star%20River-final-tiff-17_large.jpg)
![Star River Headquarters, designed by SOM. Photo by Seth Powers, courtesy SOM](/sites/default/files/inline-images/Pazhou%20Star%20River-final-tiff-18_large.jpg)
![Star River Headquarters, designed by SOM. Photo by Seth Powers, courtesy SOM](/sites/default/files/inline-images/Pazhou%20Star%20River-final-tiff-20_large.jpg)
![Star River Headquarters, designed by SOM. Photo by Seth Powers, courtesy SOM](/sites/default/files/inline-images/Pazhou%20Star%20River-final-tiff-22_large.jpg)
![Star River Headquarters, designed by SOM. Photo by Seth Powers, courtesy SOM](/sites/default/files/inline-images/Pazhou%20Star%20River-final-tiff-23_large.jpg)
![Star River Headquarters, designed by SOM. Photo by Seth Powers, courtesy SOM](/sites/default/files/inline-images/Pazhou%20Star%20River-final-tiff-25_large.jpg)
![Star River Headquarters, designed by SOM. Photo by Seth Powers, courtesy SOM](/sites/default/files/inline-images/Pazhou%20Star%20River-final-tiff-27_large.jpg)
Related Stories
| May 18, 2011
Lab personnel find comfort in former Winchester gun factory
The former Winchester Repeating Arms Factory in New Haven, Conn., is the new home of PepsiCo’s Biology Innovation Research Laboratory.
| May 16, 2011
Virtual tour: See U.S. Green Building Council’s new LEED Platinum HQ—and earn CE credits
A virtual tour of the U.S. Green Building Council's LEED Platinum HQ is available. The tour features embedded videos, audio podcasts, and information on building materials and products used throughout the space. By taking the virtual tour, professionals can earn GBCI Continuing Education hours for the LEED AP with specialty and LEED Green Associate credentials.
| May 11, 2011
DOE releases guide for 50% more energy-efficient office buildings
The U.S. Department of Energy today announced the release of the first in a new series of Advanced Energy Design Guides to aid in the design of highly energy efficient office buildings. The 50% AEDG series will provide a practical approach to commercial buildings designed to achieve 50% energy savings compared to the commercial building energy code used in many areas of the country.
| May 10, 2011
Google hires Ingenhoven Architects to design new Mountain View office
The current Googleplex is straining at the seams and yet the company is preparing its biggest hiring surge ever, so Google decided now’s the time to build its own office space—a first for the Internet giant. The company hired Ingenhoven Architects, a German firm that specializes in sustainable architecture, to create plans for what could be a 600,000-sf office.
| Apr 13, 2011
Office interaction was the critical element to Boston buildout
Margulies Perruzzi Architects, Boston, designed the new 11,460-sf offices for consultant Interaction Associates and its nonprofit sister organization, The Interaction Institute for Social Change, inside an old warehouse near Boston’s Seaport Center.
| Apr 13, 2011
Red Bull Canada HQ a mix of fluid spaces and high-energy design
The Toronto architecture firm Johnson Chou likes to put a twist on its pared-down interiors, and its work on the headquarters for Red Bull Canada is no exception. The energy drink maker occupies 12,300 sf on the top two floors of a three-story industrial building in Toronto, and the design strategy for its space called for leaving the base building virtually untouched while attention was turned to the interior architecture.
| Apr 13, 2011
Former department store gets new lease on life as MaineHealth HQ
The long-vacant Sears Roebuck building in Portland, Maine, was redeveloped into the corporate headquarters for MaineHealth. Consigli Construction and local firm Harriman Architects + Engineers handled the 14-month fast-track project, transforming the 89,000-sf, four-story facility for just $100/sf.
| Mar 29, 2011
Chicago’s Willis Tower to become a vertical solar farm
Chicago’s iconic Willis Tower (formerly the Sears Tower) is set to become a massive solar electric plant with the installation of a pilot solar electric glass project.
| Mar 29, 2011
Read up on Amazon.com's new green HQ
Phase IV of Amazon’s new headquarters in Seattle is nearly complete. The company has built 10 of the 11 buildings planned for its new campus in the South Lake Union neighborhood, and is on-track for a 2013 grand opening.
| Mar 11, 2011
Blockbuster remodel transforms Omaha video store into a bank
A former Hollywood Video store in Omaha, Neb., was renovated and repurposed as the SAC Federal Credit Union, Ames Branch. Architects at Leo A Daly transformed the outdated 5,000-sf retail space into a modern facility by wrapping the exterior in poplar siding and adding a new glass storefront that floods the interior with natural light.