Atelier Hollein shared with us their latest project in Shenzhen, China. It’s a high-rise office building for which they received one of first prizes in the 4in1 Tower Competition in 2009. You can see more images and architect’s description after the break.
The office tower has a strategic position within the texture of the city. Adjacent to the Town Hall and its main North-South axis, and located on East-West oriented Shen Nan Avenue, it has the pole position in the central quarter in Shenzhen, where in midst the stock exchange building dominates.
The SFB Tower building contrasts to the new stock exchange, a building by Rem Kohlhaas which is currently under construction. In actual fact it contrasts to any high-rise in the vicinity because it is different. With its memorable design, based on an early sketch drawn by Hans Hollein in his time in Chicago, how skyscrapers should look in the future , it becomes a dominant statement within the high-rises, in an exposed corner position of the cluster,
The tower building in plan is a simple square of 45 m x 45 m, with 42 floors and an overall height of 200 m and it features a total floor area of 80.500 m² above ground.
A skirt building partially frames the tower in the base zone, where the entrance area, the public business hall and a high class restaurant are located.
The tower building itself rises on top as a highly sculptured building with vertical gardens integrated in the architecture such giving the tower a very distinct appearance talking of alternative workstyle and sustainability.
Vertically the tower is a layered structure featuring two different zones of 5 to 6 floors each which repeat alternating 3 and 4 times. One such zone has 6 identical floors with a square outer perimeter. But the other zone of 5 floors is highly complex in its outer appearance:
Each individual floor is seemingly different; deep setbacks and far outreaching cantilevers interchange along the imaginary façade line and are overgrown with plants. These sky garden-levels also have the advantage that their purposely versatile outer appearance is very flexible and can easily answer individual situations.
The main entrance lies in the north with a covered drive up. A ramp leads to the underground parking in the northwest of the access street in the west. East a two way exit ramp from the underground parking also connects up with the road system.
The entrance lobby with the adjoining business hall has luxurious dimensions with tall spaces and interesting volumetric situations. The materials used are elegant surfaces of stone and wood, glass and metals.
Architects: Atelier Hollein Location: Shenzhen, China Project Team: Christoph Monschein, Ulf Kotz Design Principal: Prof. Hans Hollein Local Representative: Victor Wang Job Captain: SanHwan Lu Local Architect: SADI Leed Facade Consultant: Werner Sobek Client: Southern / Bosera Fund Site Area: 80,000 m2 office area
