Sustainability Report

Products:

• The curtain wall, including the aluminum frames forming the Urban Cell Wall, was custom-designed and fabricated for the project by Jangho.
• The glazed terracotta inserts were manufactured by CN Ceramic, based in Yixing near Hangzhou, giving the material a local connection. The terracotta profiles and their finishes were developed specifically for the project.
• CSG supplied the tower glazing, which incorporates a customized version of its SJ48 coating. The coating was refined through the mockup and glass-review process and further adjusted to maintain a consistent appearance across the curved corner glazing. 
• The aluminum elements were finished with a PPG Duranar® PVDF coating.

Computational modeling tools were used to generate and evaluate thousands of massing options. Could you share more detail on which performance criteria were most influential in shaping the final design, particularly in relation to daylight, shading, views, energy efficiency, and pedestrian connectivity?

Jeff Kenoff, FAIA, KPF Design Principal: “Rather than optimizing for a single objective, our KPF UI team, led by Luc Wilson, KPF Global Director of Design Technology, evaluated thousands of iterations against multiple performance criteria simultaneously. Daylight penetration, solar exposure, shadow impacts, view quality, retail visibility, and pedestrian connectivity were all measured together. That process allowed us to refine building heights, orientations, floor plates, and terraces as a single system. Ultimately, the Sky Park consistently emerged as the highest-performing strategy because it strengthened pedestrian movement while improving daylight access, reducing shadow impacts, and creating stronger visual connections across the site.”

The project has achieved LEED Platinum, LEED Gold, China Green Building 3-Star, BREEAM Excellent, and WELL Platinum certifications. Could you share which sustainability strategies were most important in achieving these ratings?

Jeff Kenoff: “Sustainability and environmental performance have always been central to both this project and Hang Lung Properties’ broader mission. The project’s LEED, China Green Building 3-Star, BREEAM, and WELL certifications reflect an integrated design approach involving many teams, systems, and technologies rather than any single strategy. Computational analysis informed the massing and facade design to maximize daylight, improve views, reduce unwanted solar gain, and increase energy efficiency. Equally important was the emphasis on walkability and public space, with the Sky Park and landscaped pedestrian network encouraging healthier patterns of movement through the site. Together, environmental performance, occupant well-being, and urban connectivity became mutually reinforcing design drivers from the earliest stages of the project.”

Is any energy, carbon, or building-performance data available for the project, either from design-stage modeling or post-completion assessment?

Jeff Kenoff: “From the earliest stages, computational analysis helped us make better design decisions by evaluating the performance of different options. Given Hangzhou’s hot, humid climate, a major focus was reducing excessive solar heat gain through shading, facade design, and unique building orientations. Those studies allowed us to optimize the design early in the process, with energy modeling predicting meaningful improvements in overall building performance.”