By Sam Lubell
While Beijing and Shanghai attract the most attention in the architectural press, Guangzhou is starting work on a series of major buildings by internationally known architects. The latest project to be announced is New Town West Tower, which will be one of the tallest in the country.
Chosen in an international competition, the British firm Wilkinson Eyre will design the $714 million, 425-meter-tall tower. The 110-story project will include 65 floors of office space and a 370-room luxury hotel on its upper floors. It is part of an enormous new mixed-use, commercial district in the city’s north called Guangzhou Zhujiang New Town.
The tower is scheduled to be completed in 2009, in time for the 2010 Asia Games, which will be held in Guangzhou. No building in China now stands taller than 425 meters. But the 485-meter China World Financial Center in Shanghai, designed by Kohn Pedersen Fox, is expected to be completed by 2007 and will eclipse New Town West Tower’s height.
New Town West Tower will have a rounded triangular floorplate, which will reduce horizontal wind loads and allow floors to be rented by three separate tenants. A diagrid structure made of a combination of concrete and steel will brace the double-skin glass façades. By angling the building's three facades away from the sun's powerful east-west rays and adding sun-shading louvers to the double skin, the architects expect to minimize heat gain and maximize energy efficiency. Inside, ceiling heights of 3 meters will give offices and hotel rooms a more spacious feeling. Arup is working with Wilkinson Eyre on the conceptual design and the South China Design Institute is doing the engineering.
Chris Wilkinson, a Wilkinson Eyre principal, says the building will strike a careful balance between being "dramatic and exciting," but still "elegant and smooth." Other important projects planned for Guangzhou include Zaha Hadid’s Opera House, and Rocco Yim’s Guangdong Museum.
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