Shanghai, China
Located along the bank of Shanghai’s Huangpu River, Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates and Tongji Architectural Design have designed Qiantan Center’s 280-meter office tower and paired hotel form a prominent centerpiece for the evolving area.
Inspired by the natural elements of wood grain and the nearby river’s flowing water, the development’s design features horizontal fins that imitate wood on the office tower and mimic waves on the hotel.
The project has been awarded a 2021 International Architecture Award by The Chicago Athenaeum: Museum of Architecture and Design and The European Centre for Architecture Art Design and Urban Studies.
At the top of the hotel, the amplitude of the horizontal fins increases to enhance the texture and movement of the design.
Qiantan Center’s office structure is the tallest tower in Shanghai’s Qiantan district with vertical fins on the building’s facade, merging at the tower’s crown to create an expressive, organic form and to mark its height among its surroundings.
These vertical piers are space in three-meter intervals to minimize view obstructions from the inside.
A podium connects the office to the hotel and extends the ‘flow lines’ across the entire Qiantan Center, acting as a covered passage and an elevated bridge between the two buildings.
Skylights provide natural light to the lower level and offer framed views of the office tower.
A truly mixed-use development, the scheme also includes a convention center, retail units, and a fitness center.
Three newly-constructed railways conveniently connect the center to other iconic areas in Shanghai, making this a prime location for the development of a new major downtown district of greater Shanghai.
Qiantan Center also incorporates a number of features for energy efficiency and user comfort.
With goals for LEED Gold and 2 stars for the China Green Building Evaluation, a large-scale roof garden on level 6 and a sky garden atop the office tower achieves natural ventilation with a retractable, motorized roof sunshade of the hotel.
The site also has open and wide landscape views to the Oriental Sports Center, an important icon in Huangpu River’s south area.
Project: Qiantan Center
Architects: Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates, PC.
Associate Architects: Tongji Architectural Design (Group) Co.
Client: Shanghai Lujiazui Finance & Trade Zone Company Co.
General Contractor: Shanghai Construction No.1 (Group) Co.
Structural Engineer: Tongji Architectural Design Group
MEP Engineer: Tongji Architectural Design Group
Facade Consultants: Schmidlin
