Prolific American firm Kohn Pedersen Fox (KPF) is responsible for many of the world's tallest skyscrapers and always produces interesting eye-catching designs. The firm's latest project is another standout and the bullet-shaped office building is topped by a stunning light-filled hall.
The China Resources Headquarters is located in Shenzhen, China, and rises to a height of 400 m (1,312 ft). It's part of a larger development by KPF that includes residential, retail space, office space, and a significant public realm.
The overall form of the building, which brings to mind London's Gherkin, is inspired by the winter bamboo shoot. It's also quite interesting structurally.
"China Resources Headquarters features a light yet stable tube and diagrid structural system that is expressed in its tapered, sculptural form," says KPF. "Rendered in pre-fabricated column and steel units, the system affords column-free interiors, in turn allowing greater expression of the tower's radial symmetry and more boutique floorplates as it rises. The 56 vertical columns converge into 28 columns at the lower and upper sections of the tower, forming a series of entry portals at the tower's base and merging to a singular point at its peak. "
The top of the tower is taken up by the "sky hall," a conical hall likened to a cathedral by KPF that offers visitors choice views of the city below and the spire above. The firm also says that China Resources Headquarters is one the few skyscrapers in the world in which people can actually visit its highest point. It certainly looks impressive.
The China Resources Headquarters is the third-tallest skyscraper in Shenzhen. There has been an incredible number of skyscrapers both planned and constructed in the city in recent years, including Foster + Partners' Merchants Bank HQ, BIG's Shenzhen Energy Mansion and KPF's own Ping An Finance Centre, the tallest building in the city.
Source: KPF