RMJM Red Studio, based in Hong Kong, have won the competition for the Research & Development towers of the Shenzhen Bay Innovation and Technology Centre, located within the heart of Shenzhen’s High-Tech Park of Nanshan district, a national model for future developments. The winning design is of twin towers that are connected by two distinctive 3-storey volumes at different heights; these volumes provide ancillary programs and services to the office users and visitors alike.
This complex spans over an area of 39,869 m2, it consists of research & development offices, serviced apartments and supporting commercial services and facilities. A total of 381,529 m2 of GFA is provided to accommodate various programs within this pioneering project. There are a total of 5 towers in this complex of which two are supertall R&D offices, rising at 320 metres (71 storeys) and 246.6 (54 storeys) metres. The R&D towers are connected by two distinctive 3-storey volumes at different heights; these volumes provide ancillary programs and services to the office users and visitors alike. The other 3 towers house serviced apartments, rising at 150 metres (45 storeys), 120 metres (37 storeys) and 106 metres (30 storeys) respectively. The 4-storey basement have a total area of 159,476 m2; allowing an active retail scene at level B1, and providing 1,560 parking spaces on level B1 through to level B4. The overall design strategy hopes to encourage employee-oriented cultures and to create vibrant working environments. Through teamwork and collaboration, a sense of community and belonging is achieved among users, reinforcing the status of this progressive and vigorous world-class complex as an exceptional landmark of the 21st century. The orthogonal forms of the design correspond to the spirit of rigorous entrepreneurship of the High-Tech Park. A ribbon-like sky garden acts as a flowing green belt which runs though the two linking volumes and connects the two towers together elegantly. The form of the connected twin towers fully reflects the harmonious and innovative corporate culture of the client Shenzhen Investment Holdings Co. The heights of towers increase in a spiral from south-west, south-east, north-east to north-west; ending with the tallest building in the north-west corner of 320 metres in height. The overall form of the complex is an abstraction of the characteristics of the site, extracted from the idea of progression from education to high-tech industries. It not only symbolizes the evolution of Shenzhen Bay Innovation and Technology Centre starting from nursery, incubator, then develops into a pioneer high-tech centre of the 21st century; it also echoes the rapid development trajectory of Shenzhen. Environmental factors are fully considered in the facades designs. The use of tinted dark blue-gray glass in the upper area of towers reduces heat gain in the summer and heat loss in the winter. It provides the optimal interior lighting condition with an effective control of direct sunlight. The white fritted glass is distributed in a pixilated aesthetic and acts as a mediator in the transition of the dark blue-gray glass in upper area of towers to the light blue-gray glass in lower area of towers. The change in glass colours not only respond to the degree of solar exposure on the facades, it also symbolizes an abstraction of evolution of the surrounding context. The dynamic texture of the pixelated facades truly represents progression and innovation of the complex. Both the linking volumes of the R&D towers and the ribbon-like sky garden express a sense of vibrancy, highlighting the energetic social spaces within.
