by Shane Henson — November 2, 2012—Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill Architecture (AS+GG) recently won an international competition to design Qintai International Tower, an 814-feet (248-meter) tall, high-performance corporate headquarters tower and related podium structure in Wuhan, Hubei Province, China. AS+GG’s winning entry was selected over competing designs from firms based in the Netherlands, Japan and Hong Kong.
Qintai International Tower’s total constructed area is 146,000 square meters, including a five-star hotel and office space to be occupied by the client, CNTC Hubei Provincial Tobacco Corporation, and other tenants. The tower will be connected via a plaza and an above-grade pedestrian bridge to the podium, which will contain retail, restaurants and a conference center with a ballroom. At the top of the tower, a special executive lounge and restaurants will offer spectacular views of the surrounding cityscape.
The tower’s unique form is both culturally and environmentally contextual to the city of Wuhan, says AS+GG. The design was influenced by the Qin, a traditional Chinese musical instrument similar to the zither, which appears in a Chinese legend with deep cultural significance to the Hubei area. During the ongoing concept design phase, the cultural influence of the building has been developed in relation to the building’s energy performance. Informed by a rigorous parametric analysis, the façade now bows outward in a diagonal line that ascends northwest up the tower.
This shape has been adjusted to optimize self-shading and minimize solar heat gain, an effect augmented by the fact that both the tower and podium’s narrowest exposures are mostly to the east and west, from which the sun is harshest. In addition, the tower’s smaller floor plates allow for greater use of daylight harvesting, which in turn reduces the building’s energy consumption for artificial lighting.
Sustainability is also being considered in many other aspects of the building’s design. Sustainable features being explored by AS+GG’s sister firm, PositivEnergy Practice, include:
- Solar hot water roof panels;
- A high-performance exterior wall featuring passive shading and vertical fins on the east and west façades;
- An operable louver system with internal shading blinds that are responsive to the solar path;
- Natural ventilation systems;
- Storm water and condensate collection systems; and
- Natural filtration through landscape features.
