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
| Aug 11, 2010
NBBJ selected to design Russell Investments’ Seattle headquarters
NBBJ has been hired by Russell Investments as the architectural firm to design the interior space of its new global headquarters at 1301 2nd Avenue, a building also designed by NBBJ.
| Aug 11, 2010
Report: Fraud levels fall for construction industry, but companies still losing $6.4 million on average
The global construction, engineering and infrastructure industry saw a significant decline in fraud activity with companies losing an average of $6.4 million over the last three years, according to the latest edition of the Kroll Annual Global Fraud Report, released today at the Association of Corporate Counsel’s 2009 Annual Meeting in Boston. This new figure represents less than half of last year’s amount of $14.2 million.
| Aug 11, 2010
AAMA developing product-based green certification program for fenestration
The American Architectural Manufacturers Association is working on a product-based green certification program for residential and commercial fenestration, the organization announced today. AAMA will use the results of a recent green building survey to help shape the program. Among the survey's findings: 77% of respondents reported a green certification program for fenestration would benefit the product selection process for their company.
| Aug 11, 2010
City offices to up daylight, reduce water use
Breaking ground this month and scheduled for completion in November, the Palmetto Bay Village Hall in Miami-Dade County, Fla., will become the operating center for the mayor, village commissioners, government departments, the police department, and commission chambers. The two-story facility has been designed by JMWA Architects to win LEED Gold certification.
| Aug 11, 2010
Glass features keep Phoenix high-rise cool
A 26-story, 700,000-sf glass-clad tower has become downtown Phoenix's first office high-rise in eight years. One Central Park East, developed by Mesirow Financial, designed by SmithGroup, and built by Holder Construction Company, contains 495,000 sf of office space spanning 16 floors, plus a nine-level parking lot and ground-floor retail space.
| Aug 11, 2010
New HQ for automobile association stresses employee collaboration
AAA Northern California, Nevada, and Utah (AAA NCNU) has a new corporate headquarters in Walnut Creek, Calif. The interior of the six-floor, 250,000-sf building features an open layout by architecture firm Gensler to encourage greater collaboration across the automobile association's departments. Targeting LEED Gold certification, the building uses wood from Forest Stewardship Council-certified...
| Aug 11, 2010
Firehouse converted to hip hot property
Sound the alarm! A 9,000-sf former firehouse is being converted into a new multipurpose space for ZUMIX, a nonprofit music and arts organization that's partnering on the project with Landmark Structures of Woburn, Mass., and the East Boston Community Development Corporation. The $2 million renovation of the 1920s structure, known as Engine Company 40 Firehouse, includes a complete gut job to ma...
| Aug 11, 2010
High-tech tower targets LEED Platinum
Construction is slated to begin on the new $38 million AI Tech Center in Hartford, Conn., in spring 2010. The Building Team, which includes Suffolk Construction Co., CBT Architects, and Jones Lang LaSalle, planned the high-tech 13-story, 259,000-sf tower to meet LEED Platinum certification. Green features include photovoltaic power, a fuel cell power plant, abundant natural lighting, and a roof...
| Aug 11, 2010
Project's mixed materials downplay massing
Philadelphia-based KlingStubbins provided design services for the 120,000-sf Carnegie Center, which is part of the 103-acre mixed-use Carnegie Center West development in West Windsor Township, N.J. The four-story building features horizontal brick bands, ribbons of glass, aluminum accents, and metal end panels and curtain wall at all four corners to break up the building's massing.
| Aug 11, 2010
And the world's tallest building is…
At more than 2,600 feet high, the Burj Dubai (right) can still lay claim to the title of world's tallest building—although like all other super-tall buildings, its exact height will have to be recalculated now that the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat (CTBUH) announced a change to its height criteria.