BIG completes the new Shenzhen Energy Mansion skyscraper

The new headquarters of the Shenzhen Energy Company, comprising 96,000 square meters of offices in the centre of this Chinese metropolis, has been recently completed. The complex is composed by two towers of different heights connected by a podium and is located in one of the main streets of this city’s cultural, political and social centre. The project was signed by the BIG - Bjarke Ingels Group architecture studio, which won the invitation to tender in 2009.

The building was named Shenzhen Energy Mansion (SEM). It is the result of a project carried out in full respect of the important constraints defined by the area master plan, which also defined the volumes and heights of the new headquarters of the Shenzhen Energy Company.
Laurian Ghinitoiu and Chao Zhang’s photo reportage shows the new building in the Shenzhen skyline. As shown by the images, the elegant silhouette of this building has already become an urban landmark of the city centre. The pleated façade and the slight twists characterising some parts of the two towers make their volume dynamic. The SEM is composed of two skyscrapers, a north tower and a south tower which top out at 220 and 120 meters respectively, joined by a common podium. The podium is a 34-metre-tall horizontal parallelepiped housing the public areas, such as the main lobby, a conference centre, a cafeteria, and an exhibition space. The offices of the Shenzhen Energy Company, instead, are located in the upper floors of the skyscrapers, which offer amazing views on the city.

The façade is a distinctive element of the urban context, but also plays an essential role. Indeed, this pleated, rippled skin around both towers offers very different solutions as compared to traditional, plain glazed façades, and not just as regards aesthetics. It all started with the architects’ wish to realise sustainable solutions to maximise the energy performance and comfort of the buildings without installing technical systems but, rather, increasing the building thermal inertia, reducing solar glare and maximising natural ventilation with suitable architectural solutions.
In fact, the pleated façade decreases the solar glare; moreover, by alternating closed and open parts, the buildings are provided with a good level of isolation, while the interiors are provided with abundant natural light thanks to the reflection of sun rays on the internal panels. The panels also invite the observers to admire the fantastic external views.

(Agnese Bifulco)

Client: Shenzhen Energy Company
Size: 96,000 m2
Location: Shenzhen, China
Collaborators: ARUP, Transsolar, Front

Architects: BIG-BJARKE INGELS GROUP 
Partners-in-Charge: Bjarke Ingels, Andreas Klok Pedersen
Project Manager: Martin Voelkle
Project Leaders: Song He, Andre Schmidt
Team: Alessio Zenaro, Alex Cozma, Alina Tamosiunaite, Alysen Hiller, Ana Merino, Andreas Geisler Johansen, Annette Jensen, Armor Rivas, Balaj IIulian, Brian Yang, Baptiste Blot, Buster Christiansen, Cat Huang, Cecilia Ho, Christian Alvarez, Christin Svensson, Claudia Hertrich, Claudio Moretti, Cory Mattheis, Dave Brown, Dennis Rasmussen, Doug Stechschulte, Eskild Nordbud, Fan Zhang, Felicia Guldberg, Flavien Menu, Fred Zhou, Gaetan Brunet, Gül Ertekin, Henrik Kania, Iris Van der Heide, James Schrader, Jan Magasanik, Jan Borgstrøm, Jeppe Ecklon, Jelena Vucic, João Albuquerque, Jonas Mønster, Karsten Hansen, Kuba Snopek, Malte Kloe, Mikkel Marcker Stubgaard, Michael Andersen, Michal Kristof, Min Ter Lim, Oana Simionescu, Nicklas A. Rasch, Philip Sima, Rasmus Pedersen, Rune Hansen, Rui Huang, Sofia Gaspar, Stanley Lung, Sun Ming Lee, Takuya Hosokai, Todd Bennett, Xi Chen, Xing Xiong, Xiao Lu, Xu Li, Yijie Dan, Zoltan Kalaszi

Images courtesy of BIG, photo by Laurian Ghinitoiu, Chao Zhang

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