Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM) recently unveiled the design for the Hangzhou Wangchao Center in Hangzhou, China. The tower will add 125,000 sm of office, hotel, and retail space directly adjacent to one of the city’s new subway stations.
The tower’s silhouette is the result of an efficient structural system that minimizes wind loads with eight mega-columns that slope outward at the corners to create large, flexible floor plates. As the corner columns move farther apart, secondary perimeter columns branch out to maintain equal bays.
At the tower’s crown, the primary corner columns extend upward to a truss at the top level. Hangers and spandrels are braced back to the central concrete core with a series of struts that work in tandem to support MEP equipment and conceal the building maintenance systems.
Above the lobby, a Vierendeel transfer truss links the secondary columns to the corner columns, which creates an open lobby space below. The cladding on the undulating façade consists of planar glass panels.
"The Hangzhou Wangchao Center's distinctive silhouette derives its form from an integrated design process that solves programmatic, structural, and environmental criteria,” says SOM Design Partner, Gary Haney, in a release. “Located at the intersection of several major transportation networks, the tower is a beacon of performance-driven design and is emblematic of Hangzhou's future as a new global destination."
The Hangzhou Wangchao Center is slated for completion in 2021.
Related Stories
High-rise Construction | Jul 10, 2018
SOM-designed 100 Leadenhall Street will be one of the tallest buildings in the U.K.
The tower will rise in the City of London’s eastern cluster.
High-rise Construction | Jun 1, 2018
CTBUH names 2018 Best Tall Building Worldwide, among nine other award winners
Oasia Downtown Hotel named “Best Tall Building Worldwide” for 2018.
| May 24, 2018
Accelerate Live! talk: Security and the built environment: Insights from an embassy designer
In this 15-minute talk at BD+C’s Accelerate Live! conference (May 10, 2018, Chicago), embassy designer Tom Jacobs explores ways that provide the needed protection while keeping intact the representational and inspirational qualities of a design.
High-rise Construction | May 18, 2018
The 100 tallest buildings ever conventionally demolished
The list comes from a recent CTBUH study.
High-rise Construction | May 14, 2018
Register before it’s too late: 2018 Tall + Urban Innovation Conference
The conference explores and celebrates the very best in innovative tall buildings, urban spaces, building technologies, and construction practices from around the world.
Reconstruction & Renovation | May 8, 2018
Willis Tower elevators receive upgrade as part of $500 million update
Otis will handle the upgrades.
Multifamily Housing | Apr 24, 2018
Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill Architecture designs 47-story condo tower in Miami
The tower will be located in Miami’s South Brickell neighborhood.
High-rise Construction | Apr 17, 2018
Developers reveal plans for 1,422-foot-tall skyscraper in Chicago
The tower would be the second tallest in the city.
Wood | Feb 15, 2018
Japanese company announces plans for the world’s tallest wooden skyscraper
The planned tower would rise 350 meters (1148 feet).
High-rise Construction | Feb 14, 2018
BIG and Carlo Ratti Associati-designed Singapore skyscraper has open-air ‘oases’ at multiple levels
The new skyscraper will include “the office of the future.”