Street view from the south: a 200-metre glass tower split by a vertical void of stacked terraces and gardens — The tower from the street — one silhouette, opened by a canyon of shared spaceDesign: Architecture Georges Hung with Huazhu. Image: Architecture Georges Hung.

Project details · Workplace & mixed use · Shenzhen

1+1=1 Tower

Two towers for one company — research and administration — facing each other across a vertical void, and recomposed into one.

Project: Great Wall Electronics R&D Headquarters Tower
Location: Nanshan, Shenzhen, China
Client: Great Wall Electronics Co., Ltd.
Year: 2014
Site: 4.8 ha
Floor area: 233,574 m², 200 m high
Status: Invited competition, second place
Design: Architecture Georges Hung, with Huazhu, Shenzhen

Ideas rarely start at a desk. They start in the space between departments.

The brief

Great Wall Electronics asked for a new headquarters in Shenzhen’s High-Tech Industrial Park: one tower for its two principal departments, Research & Development and Administration. The building had to carry the company’s spirit — creative, collaborative, visionary — and become a landmark for the park.

Aerial rendering from the north: the tower rising from a landscaped plaza within the dense grid of the industrial park — The tower in the High-Tech Industrial Park

White context model: the tower massing on its plot among the neighbouring blocks — Context model

Design: Architecture Georges Hung with Huazhu. Image: Architecture Georges Hung.

The tension

A 200-metre tower is usually a stack of sealed floors. Two departments placed in it would share a lobby and a lift, and little else. Researchers and managers would work dozens of floors apart, and rarely meet by chance.

Two towers face each other. Between them, a canyon of shared space.

The move

I split the building in two: a tower for R&D and a tower for Administration, facing each other. Each has its own form. Together they recompose into one overall tower — one plus one makes one.

The strongest feature is the vertical void between them. It is carved into a canyon of volumes of different heights and proportions, which form a succession of shared spaces: sky terraces, lounges, meeting rooms and gardens that both departments use. Daylight falls through the tower from top to bottom, and air crosses it from north to south.

Physical model in white: two slender towers standing apart, their facing sides cut with interlocking voids — Two towers, cut to fit together — the facing sides carved into a shared voidDesign: Architecture Georges Hung with Huazhu. Image: Architecture Georges Hung.

Diagram sequence: a single block split into two, then carved with stacked voids that interlock across the gap — From one block to two towers and a shared voidDesign: Architecture Georges Hung with Huazhu. Image: Architecture Georges Hung.

Massing animation — a walk up through the void, from the plaza to the sky terracesDesign: Architecture Georges Hung with Huazhu. Image: Architecture Georges Hung.

Close rendering of the void: glass volumes and planted terraces cantilever into the gap between the two towers — Overlapping voids — terraces of different proportions stacked into the gapDesign: Architecture Georges Hung with Huazhu. Image: Architecture Georges Hung.

How it works

01
Two towers, one building
R&D on one side, Administration on the other. Each keeps its own form and its own floors; together they read as one tower.
02
A canyon of shared space
The void holds a hierarchy of shared rooms, from small lounges to multi-storey gardens, so every few floors there is a reason to meet.
03
Sky terraces for teams
Collaborative terraces link the two departments on the working floors; an executive terrace sits higher up, open to the sky.
04
A plaza, repeated upwards
The public plaza at the base is lifted and repeated through the tower as a series of shared outdoor floors.
05
Light and air in the core
Daylight reaches down through the void; air crosses from north to south. A double façade shades and ventilates the offices.
06
Views framed from within
Openings in the void frame views of the city from the shared spaces, so each terrace has its own outlook.

Four-step diagram: a solid block, volumes subtracted, light brought in, gardens added to form sky terraces — The sky terrace — subtract, bring in light, bring in gardensDesign: Architecture Georges Hung with Huazhu. Image: Architecture Georges Hung.

Exploded axonometric of the functional distribution: shared programmes stacked through the tower above the podium — Shared functions, distributed through the tower

Colour-coded section: executive, R&D, lounge and café floors stacked either side of the void, with refuge floors and the auditorium — Section — the void and its shared floors

Design: Architecture Georges Hung with Huazhu. Image: Architecture Georges Hung.

Three-step diagram: the public plaza at ground level, lifted, then repeated as a vertical public space — The public plaza, superimposed vertically

Diagram of framed vistas: openings in the void looking out to the city at different levels — Framed vistas from the shared spaces

Design: Architecture Georges Hung with Huazhu. Image: Architecture Georges Hung.

200 m: tower height, opened by a void from the plaza to the sky.
233,574 m²: of floor area for research, administration and shared space.
4.8 ha: site in Shenzhen’s High-Tech Industrial Park.
1 + 1 = 1: two departments, two towers, one building.
N → S: natural air crossing the tower through the void.
2nd place: invited competition for Great Wall Electronics, 2014.

Inside

The shared spaces are where the two companies within the company meet. Terraces bring trees and daylight into the heart of the tower, and the lobby opens straight onto the plaza.

Rendering of a collaborative sky terrace: bridges and stairs cross the void between the two towers above a planted floor — Collaborative sky terrace

Rendering of the executive sky terrace: trees and seating in a tall open-air room between the towers — Executive sky terrace

Design: Architecture Georges Hung with Huazhu. Image: Architecture Georges Hung.

Rendering of the open lobby: a soaring covered space beneath the tower, open to the plaza on both sides — The open lobby — the ground floor left open to the plazaDesign: Architecture Georges Hung with Huazhu. Image: Architecture Georges Hung.

Rendering of an R&D workspace with lounge seating and a meeting pod — An R&D floor — work and lounge side by side

Typical floor plans of the R&D and office layouts — Typical floors — R&D and office layouts

Design: Architecture Georges Hung with Huazhu. Image: Architecture Georges Hung.

The skin and the structure

A double façade wraps the offices: an outer layer of printed and perforated glass shades the floors, while the inner layer opens for air. The structure follows the two towers, so the void can stay free of columns.

Exploded diagram of the exterior façade components: glass layers, perforated panels and maintenance walkways — Façade components

Section details of the double façade system with ventilated cavity — Double façade detail

Design: Architecture Georges Hung with Huazhu. Image: Architecture Georges Hung.

Diagram of the structural systems: cores, perimeter frame and transfer floors for the two towers — Structural systems — two towers, a column-free voidDesign: Architecture Georges Hung with Huazhu. Image: Architecture Georges Hung.

Rendering looking up the tower: glass volumes and terraces stepping through the void against the sky — Looking up through the voidDesign: Architecture Georges Hung with Huazhu. Image: Architecture Georges Hung.

At ground level

The landscape is laid out as a grid, a pixelated surface of paving, water and planting. Plazas to the north and south draw the street under the tower and into the lobby.

Diagram of the landscape grid and retail: paving, water and green cells around the tower base, with pedestrian routes — The landscape grid — paving, water and green, with retail at the edgesDesign: Architecture Georges Hung with Huazhu. Image: Architecture Georges Hung.

Rendering of the north plaza: water steps and planting lead under the open base of the tower — North plaza

Rendering of the south plaza: people crossing a paved square beneath the stacked volumes of the tower — South plaza

Design: Architecture Georges Hung with Huazhu. Image: Architecture Georges Hung.

Site plan: the tower and its gridded landscape within the surrounding streets and buildings — Site planDesign: Architecture Georges Hung with Huazhu. Image: Architecture Georges Hung.

What it gave back

The proposal won second place in Great Wall Electronics’ invited competition in 2014. It gave the company a clear identity, and the park a landmark that blurs the lines between traditional and modern, public and private, inside and outside.

A workplace is no longer a stack of floors. It is the space people cross to find each other.

Bird’s-eye view at dusk: the lit void and roof gardens of the tower above the industrial park — The tower at dusk — the void lit from withinDesign: Architecture Georges Hung with Huazhu. Image: Architecture Georges Hung.

The brief

The tension

The move

How it works

Two towers, one building

A canyon of shared space

Sky terraces for teams

A plaza, repeated upwards

Light and air in the core

Views framed from within

Inside

The skin and the structure

At ground level

What it gave back