Vanke Center : Shenzhen, China

1 Dec 2009 The newly finished Vanke headquarter offices in the Horizontal Skyscraper/Vanke Center in Dameisha, Shenzhen. This hybrid building, a design by Steven Holl with partner Li Hu, includes apartments, a hotel, and offices for the headquarters for Vanke Real Estate Co. ltd. A conference center, spa and parking are located under the large green, tropical landscape which is characterized by mounds containing restaurants and a 500-seat auditorium. The decision to float one large structure right under the 35-meter height limit, instead of several smaller structures each catering to a specific program, generates the largest possible green space open to the public on the ground level. Suspended on eight cores, as far as 50 meters apart, the building’s structure is a combination of cable-stay bridge technology merged with a high-strength concrete frame. The first structure of its type, it has tension cables carrying a record load of 3280 tons. As a tropical strategy, the building and the landscape integrate several new sustainable aspects. A microclimate is created by cooling ponds fed by a grey water system. The building has a green roof with solar panels and uses local materials such as bamboo. The glass façade of the building will be protected against the sun and wind by perforated louvers. The building is a tsunami-proof hovering architecture that creates a porous micro-climate of public open landscape; the first LEED platinum rated building in Southern China. Interiors including the auditorium, conference center and hotel will be completed in late 2010. Feb 2008 Steven Holl Architects wins invited competition with Vanke Center: a horizontal skyscraper over maximized landscape New York – Steven Holl Architects announces the winning design for the Vanke Center, a progressive new sustainable mixed-use complex in Shenzhen, China on the South China Sea. The firm was selected from a small list of invited firms including MVRDV (The Netherlands) and HAE (China). Vanke Center, set to break ground in April 2007, is located on a 60,000 sq meter site on the Chinese coast. The building, a floating horizontal skyscraper, will contain a conference center, hotel, serviced apartments and offices. Rather than create a series of building shapes that address the various uses within the complex, Steven Holl Architects’ design combines all the various programs into one grand vision. Hovering over an inventive ‘sea scribble’ garden, the collision of buildings appears as if they were once floating on a higher sea, which has now subsided, leaving them propped up high on glass and white coral-like legs. The open plan provides space for the intricate multi-faceted daily life at the ground level to evolve and change. As a vision of tropical sustainability for the 21st century, Vanke Center incorporates several new sustainable elements designed specifically for the development. The floating buildings create a flexible area of shaded landscape underneath the building, allowing sea and land breezes to pass through the site. Special geothermal cooled waterscape in the form of radiative cooling lakes create a microclimate. Moveable faÁade screens made of special composites protect the inner glass against high solar and typhoon. Renewable energy such as solar power and geothermal cooling are among the key issues to be explored in this project. Within the office portion of the project China Vanke Co., Ltd will have its main office. China Vanke Co.,Ltd is the largest property developer (publicly traded) in China. Besides it headquarters in Shenzhen it has over 20 branch offices around China. Vanke Center architects - Steven Holl announcement 2 nov 2006: Vanke Center: a horizontal skyscraper over maximized landscape Shenzhen, China 2006- Images of Vanke Center Models : Courtesy Steven Holl Architects