Guangzhou Vanke Centre is nestled in Guangzhou’s new CBD area, on the riverside of Pearl River. It overlooks the serene beauty of Pearl River as well as several noted city landmarks. It is a Grade-A office complex composed of two towers.
The twin towers conform to the site’s parameters and are arranged in a north-south direction. The north tower is 163 meters tall and the south 133. The positioning of the towers are deliberately misaligned to ensure excellent river view from both vantage points.
Spatial relationships between the development and the surrounding architecture are considered and reflected in the form, like in the adoption of retreat, and in the public spaces’ orientations, which are designed to face the city’s main interface. The result is an agreeable landscape in which buildings correspond and complemenet each other.
The site entrance design is consonant with the elegant landscape to provide a grand and welcoming arrival experience, a prelude to the development’s ambience at large. Atop sits a podium with supporting functions; and proceeding upwards are two levels of trading floors, then offices spanning across multiple floors.
The crown area is designated as the headquarters office. Meanwhile, there is a platform installed on the third level that serves to connect the two towers and as a public, interactive space. The organization of the public space in the podium reflects the design’s attention to regional characteristics.
The elevated colonnade along the street and the drop-off area, taking into account the climatic characteristics of the Lingnan region, provides the public with a ventilated and comfortable all-weather activity area. The 3-5 floors of the podium are stepped down, and the public space is further implanted into the building in multiple dimensions to encourage communication and interaction among users.
The 10-meter-high entrance lobby of office building adopts a curtain wall with low-iron glass, which integrates indoor and outdoor space seamlessly. The three-dimensional silver-white facade, as well as the metal components in the window sill wall part, serve to save energy consumption; sash windows are included to provide natural ventilation, and the offices’ panoramic windows extend as weather-proof balconies.
To anticipate for future expansion, the design creates terraced balconies on the tower crown. The crown is designed as a clear lighting box where lighting design is integrated, creating an alluring glow in the dark, elevating the twin towers’s poised position as the new landmark along Pearl River. Source by Aedas.
- Location: Guangzhou, China
- Architect: Aedas
- Design Director: Chris Chen, Executive Director
- Client: Guangzhou Vanke Co., Ltd.
- GFA: 94,000 sq m
- Completion Year: 2021
- Photographs: CreatAR Images, Courtesy of Aedas
