In Guangzhou, China, Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM) has designed the recently completed Star River Headquarters to minimize embodied carbon, reduce energy consumption, and create a healthy work environment. The 48-story tower is located in the business district on Guangzhou’s Pazhou Island.
The tower’s pleated façade ascends in a parabolic taper, which reduces wind loads while creating vertical planes of light and shadow. This design provides shading to reduce direct sunlight while at the same time allowing diffuse daylight to enter the interior spaces. In addition, the envelope’s high-performance curtain wall systems and thermal insulation reduce cooling loads and improve indoor comfort.
Building design features rounded corners, open floor plates
Individual bays formed by the pleats can accommodate both open and closed offices on the building’s perimeter. The building’s rounded corners are free of columns, creating open floor plates with views of the Pearl River.
Mullions that run the entire building height of 259.5 meters (851 feet) integrate operable panels, so occupants have direct access to fresh air. The building’s crown features a latticed structure containing a greenhouse with heritage plants and a pavilion with a reflecting pool.
The building is located on a public plaza with native landscaping and paved areas around the glass-enclosed lobby. The building’s canopy wraps around the base and extends above a retail building, forming a covered pedestrian arcade. This design also conceals the mechanical spaces on the block’s edge. Visitors can access the retail offerings and subway connection below grade.
The building management system includes environmental control standards, plant monitoring, and a user interface that allows for efficient operations.
On the Building Team:
Owner/developer: Guangzhou Star River Commercial Investment And Development Co, Ltd.
Design architect: Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM)
Architect of record: Guangzhou Design Institution
MEP engineer and structural engineer: SOM
General contractor: Zhongtian Construction Group Co., Ltd.
Interior design: ChengChung + Design
Lighting design: Leox Design Partnership|
Façade consultant: Shanghai PFT Construction Consulting Co.
Related Stories
Giants 400 | Aug 22, 2022
Top 80 Engineering Firms for 2022
Kimley-Horn, Tetra Tech, Langan, and NV5 head the rankings of the nation's largest engineering firms for nonresidential buildings and multifamily buildings work, as reported in Building Design+Construction's 2022 Giants 400 Report.
| Aug 22, 2022
For Gen Z, “enhanced communication” won’t cut it
As the fastest-growing generation, Generation Z, loosely defined as those born between the mid-1990s and early 2000s, has become a hot topic in conversations surrounding workplace design.
Giants 400 | Aug 21, 2022
Top 110 Architecture/Engineering Firms for 2022
Stantec, HDR, HOK, and Skidmore, Owings & Merrill top the rankings of the nation's largest architecture engineering (AE) firms for nonresidential and multifamily buildings work, as reported in Building Design+Construction's 2022 Giants 400 Report.
Giants 400 | Aug 20, 2022
Top 180 Architecture Firms for 2022
Gensler, Perkins and Will, HKS, and Perkins Eastman top the rankings of the nation's largest architecture firms for nonresidential and multifamily buildings work, as reported in Building Design+Construction's 2022 Giants 400 Report.
Giants 400 | Aug 19, 2022
2022 Giants 400 Report: Tracking the nation's largest architecture, engineering, and construction firms
Now 46 years running, Building Design+Construction's 2022 Giants 400 Report rankings the largest architecture, engineering, and construction firms in the U.S. This year a record 519 AEC firms participated in BD+C's Giants 400 report. The final report includes more than 130 rankings across 25 building sectors and specialty categories.
Daylighting | Aug 18, 2022
Lisa Heschong on 'Thermal and Visual Delight in Architecture'
Lisa Heschong, FIES, discusses her books, "Thermal Delight in Architecture" and "Visual Delight in Architecture," with BD+C's Rob Cassidy.
| Aug 17, 2022
IBM’s former office buildings in Boca Raton turn into a modern tech campus
Built in 1968, the Boca Raton Innovation Campus (BRiC), at 1.7 million square feet, is the largest office campus in Florida.
| Aug 9, 2022
Work-from-home trend could result in $500 billion of lost value in office real estate
Researchers find major changes in lease revenues, office occupancy, lease renewal rates.
Codes and Standards | Jul 22, 2022
Office developers aim for zero carbon without offsets
As companies reassess their office needs in the wake of the pandemic, a new arms race to deliver net zero carbon space without the need for offsets is taking place in London, according to a recent Bloomberg report.
Office Buildings | Jul 19, 2022
Austin adaptive reuse project transforms warehouse site into indoor-outdoor creative office building
Fifth and Tillery, an adaptive reuse project, has revitalized a post-industrial site in East Austin, Texas.
