Nestled in the heart of Yuhang District, Bjarke Ingels Group’s design for the new OPPO R&D Headquarters, China’s largest smartphone company, combines aesthetics and innovative technology in a building that will be an environmental, economical, and socially sustainable hub for innovation.
The headquarters, named O-Tower, sits between a natural lake, an urban center, and a 10,000 square-meter park, serving as an anchor point and new gateway to Hangzhou’s Future Sci-Tech City. In addition to it being a technological hub, Hangzhou is also a touristic attraction, housing three of the world’s 57 UNESCO Heritage sites. The architecture studio translated the company's "endless innovation in the pursuit of perfection" with a master plan that balances the city's dense fabric and natural landscape, combined with technological artistry.
The award-winning architecture firm reimagined traditional office slabs and optimized the company's dynamic workspaces by creating a cylindrical courtyard building with compact yet flexible floor plans. To maximize the solar exposure and provide panoramic views of the city, the southern edge of the building was pushed downwards. This unique geometry allowed it to become self-shaded, reducing energy consumption and maximizing natural daylight, which in return, promotes employee well-being and productivity.
Beneath the sloping roof, triple-height voids and connected terraces with biophilia were implemented to provide visual and physical connectivity between floors. These in-between spaces, which are visible from the outside, bring out human interaction and animate the facades. The facades are wrapped with adaptive louvers that are oriented with respect to the sun's positioning. They will provide an imprint exclusive for the O-Tower and Hangzhou, reducing solar gain by up to 52%, and providing significant savings for cooling loads, all while reducing glare, reflectivity, and light pollution.
At the heart of the O-Tower, a publicly accessible courtyard will become an urban attraction for the city, blurring the boundaries between public and private architecture. The ground floor at its center transforms into a lush landscape and extends out to the waterfront. This interconnected public space will guide visitors and employees towards lobbies, exhibition spaces, or out to the park.
A series of flexible floor plates within the architecture will be reserved for different functional programming but will integrate workspaces with biophilia and social spaces throughout the entire architecture. The first three floors will be dedicated to the public, with an exhibition space, conference centers, and an incubator for external workshops. The middle floors will vary between spacious and large floors for R&D departments and special projects, along with smaller ones for administrative and executive programs. And as for the upper floors, an OPPO canteen, as well as executive and VIP lounges, will be situated, overlooking Hangzhou’s wetlands. That same view will be available to all OPPO staff, due to the triple-height interconnected atria under the O-ring facade.
O-Tower
- Client: OPPO Global Mobile Terminal R&D Headquarters
- Type: Office, Retail, and Masterplan
- Size: Office 161,330m2, Retail 68,000 m2, Site area: 48,900 m2
- Location: Hangzhou, China
- Architect: Bjark Ingels Group
- Project Leader: Hung Kai Liao
- Project Architect: Kekoa Charlot
- Design Lead: Ewa Bryzek
- Facades Lead: Aimee Louise Desert
- Team: Adam Busko, Agnieszka Magdalena Trzcińska, Alessandro Zanini, Alda Sol Hauksdóttir, Andra Beler, Buster Christensen, Cristina Giménez, Seongil Choo, Camille Breuil, Carlos Ramos Tendrio, Cris Liu, Daniel Ferrara Bilesky, Eddie Can, Eric Li, Filip Fot, Geetika Bhutani, Gül Ertekin, Jens Majdal Kaarsholm, Julia Gotovski, Karim Muallem, Liang Zhang, Laura Kovacevic, Malka Logo, Maria Capuozzo, Martyna Sylwia Kramarz, Mats Kolmas, Max Alexander Bonecker, Mengyuan Li, Mads Primdahl Rokkjær, Naphit Puangchan , Ombretta Colangelo, Rasam Aminzadeh, Roberto Fabbri, Stefan Plugaru, Steen Kortbæk Svendsen, Su Myat Nge Nge, Shuting Zhang, Weronika Siwak, Xiaochang Qiu, Xavier Thanki, Yusheng Huang, Zhonghan Huang
- Local Design Institute: ZIAD
- Client Project Managers: Co-Create Golden Technique Project Management
- Structural Engineers: RBS
- Façade Consultants: RFR
- Traffic, MEP, VT Consultant: WSP
- Lighting Designer: BPI
- Programming Consultant: Savills
- Foodservice planner: TFP
- Traffic Evaluation Agency: UAD
