OPPO Tower by BIG – Bjarke Ingels Group

OPPO

BIG – Bjarke Ingels Group’s design for the new OPPO R&D Headquarters will exemplify the OPPO design philosophy of pursuing the perfect balance between refined aesthetics and innovative technology, in a building that will be environmentally, economically, and socially sustainable – a responsible citizen and iconic gateway to Hangzhou’s Future Sci-Tech City. Founded in 2004, OPPO has grown over a short period of time to become China’s largest smartphone company.

The setting of OPPO’s new R&D Headquarters in Hangzhou’s Future Sci-Tech City represents a commitment to the brand’s spirit of endless innovation in the pursuit of perfection. The design expresses OPPO’s mission of the elevation of life through technological artistry, with an overarching vision of being a sustainable company that contributes to a better world. Prominently located in the heart of Yuhang District, Hangzhou, OPPO R&D Headquarters rests between a natural lake, an urban center, and a 10,000 square-meter park.

As an anchor point along a major access road stretching east to west from Hangzhou, the OPPO R&D Headquarters Tower will be an iconic landmark and gateway to the Future Sci-Tech City and Hangzhou itself. The needs of contemporary tech companies frequently put them in a position to choose between ideal deep and flexible floor plates to support creative and dynamic workspaces, and shallow floor plates that provide optimal work environments including access to daylight and views that benefit employee well-being and productivity.

The new OPPO R&D Headquarters, or O-Tower, resolves these competing requirements by translating a traditional office slab with the perfect depth for access to daylight into a cylindrical courtyard building that is compact yet also providing large, contiguous floor area. Pushing down the southern edge of the building to the ground minimizes the external surface area of the more solar exposed façade while maximizing views out from the inward façade, which is in turn self-shaded from solar gain by the geometry of the tower. The massing is a manifestation of a building form optimized to reduce energy use and maximize access to natural light.

A series of triple-height void spaces and interconnected terraces under the sloping O roof surface will provide visual and physical connectivity between floors, and the opportunity to introduce biophilic social spaces and shortcuts for all OPPO staff. These spaces will bring human interaction out to the facades, where staff can enjoy views out while populating and activating the skyline of the city. Wrapped with adaptive façade louvers that are oriented according to sun angles and building geometry to minimize solar gain, the façade will become a fingerprint for the building, with a specific imprint that exists only for the O-Tower, and only in Hangzhou.

The fingerprint façade will reduce solar gain by up to 52%, providing significant savings for cooling loads and better thermal comfort for OPPO staff, while at the same time reducing glare, reflectivity and light pollution. At the heart of the O-Tower, a publicly accessible courtyard will become an urban living room for the city. The mineral hardscape at its center transforms into a green and lush landscape at the periphery as it extends out to the waterfront. This urban oasis provides fresh air, retains water, and supports a biodiverse public realm connected to the daily life of the city.

The ground floor of the O-Tower will be open with an interconnected public space that seamlessly leads visitors and staff through lobbies, exhibition spaces, or out to the park. The first three floors will be reserved for public programming including exhibition space, conference centers, a canteen, and an incubator for external workshops. Within the R&D Headquarters will be a variety of flexible floor plates from spacious and large floors suitable for R&D departments and special projects, to smaller more traditional floors for administrative and executive functions.

On the upper floors, a dedicated OPPO canteen as well as executive and VIP lounges will overlook Hangzhou’s wetlands alongside the triple-height interconnected atria under the O-ring facade that will provide similar views for all OPPO staff. All floors of the building integrate workspaces with biophilia and social spaces. The new OPPO R&D Headquarters will not only bring OPPO employees to an innovation zone for global technology entrepreneurship, but will create a sustainable and vibrant community that will become an iconic destination on the Hangzhou waterfront. Source by BIG – Bjarke Ingels Group.

  • Location: Hangzhou, China
  • Architect: BIG – Bjarke Ingels Group
  • Partners-in-Charge: Bjarke Ingels, Brian Yang
  • Project Leader: Hung Kai Liao
  • Project Architect: Kekoa Charlot
  • Design Lead: Ewa Bryzek
  • Facades Lead: Aimee Louise Desert
  • Team: Adam Busko, Agnieszka Magdalena Trzcińska, Alessandro Zanini, Alda Sol Hauksdóttir, Andra Beler, Buster Christensen, Cristina Giménez, Seongil Choo, Camille Breuil, Carlos Ramos Tendrio, Cris Liu, Daniel Ferrara Bilesky, Eddie Can, Eric Li, Filip Fot, Geetika Bhutani, Gül Ertekin, Jens Majdal Kaarsholm, Julia Gotovski, Karim Muallem, Liang Zhang, Laura Kovacevic, Malka Logo, Maria Capuozzo, Martyna Sylwia Kramarz, Mats Kolmas, Max Alexander Bonecker, Mengyuan Li, Mads Primdahl Rokkjær, Naphit Puangchan , Ombretta Colangelo, Rasam Aminzadeh, Roberto Fabbri, Stefan Plugaru, Steen Kortbæk Svendsen, Su Myat Nge Nge, Shuting Zhang, Weronika Siwak, Xiaochang Qiu, Xavier Thanki, Yusheng Huang, Zhonghan Huang
  • Size: Office 161,330m2, Retail 68,000 m2, Site area: 48,900 m2
  • Collaborators: ZIAD (LDI), WSP (Traffic, MEP, VT Consultant), RBS (Structure Consultant), RFR (Façade Consultant) CCGT (Client project manager), BPI (Lighting designer), Savills (Programming consultant), TFP (Foodservice planner), UAD (Traffic evaluation agency)
  • Year: 2021
  • Images: Courtesy of BIG – Bjarke Ingels Group

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