SOM's The Jiangxi Nanchang Greenland Zifeng Tower is topped with glass-fronted hotel
by Kate Parker | 22 Sep 2015
Construction is now complete on the Jiangxi Nanchang Greenland Zifeng Tower, an eco-themed mixed-use structure in the Gaoxin District of Nanchang, China. The architects were Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM).
The development – a 268m (879ft), 56-storey tower – is an elegant new addition to the city’s skyline and is owned by one of the country’s biggest development companies, the Greenland Group.
Its rectangular shape is emphasised by a strong diagrid shading fin system, which – together with a unique ‘Great Window’ – give the building a striking, sculptural presence in Nanchang city centre’s technology quarter.
InterContinental’s new 20-storey Hua Lux brand hotel is stacked on top of the offices which occupy the bottom two-thirds of the tower. The Great Window is a distinct aperture carved into the tower which transitions the floor plate to a size and layout suitable for the hotel function. Aesthetically, it marks the tower, distinguishing it from other towers that make up Nanchang’s urban fabric.
SOM’s integrated architecture and engineering approach allowed for the inclusion of high-performance systems, including the aluminium triangular sun-shading fins that trace up the building’s four faces. The fins shade the tower, preventing excessive solar heat and glare penetrating the interior, with intersections that comprise a structural node with integrated white LED lights that, when illuminated at night, make the system’s diagrid pattern and the tower’s rectangular form glow across Gaoxin.
The system is part of a comprehensive suite of high performance architecture and engineering elements that have won the tower LEED (Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design) Silver accreditation, the US green building certification programme recognising best-in-class building strategies and practices.
SOM included high performance architecture and engineering elements that have won the tower LEED Silver accreditation Credit: SOM
The Great Window is a distinct aperture carved into the tower which transitions the floor plates to a suitable size for the hotel Credit: SOM
Office floors occupy the bottom two-thirds of the tower Credit: SOM
Construction is now complete on the Jiangxi Nanchang Greenland Zifeng Tower, an eco-themed mixed-use structure in the Gaoxin District of Nanchang, China. The architects were Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM). The development – a 268m (879ft), 56-storey tower – is an elegant new addition to the city’s skyline and is owned by one of the country’s biggest development companies, the Greenland Group. Its rectangular shape is emphasised by a strong
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"Culture is the beating heart of this project"
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