Ping An Finance Centre / KPF

Architects

KPF
Location

Shenzhen, Guangdong, China
Area

462000.0 m2
Project Year

2016
Photographs

Tim Griffith

Architect of Record

China Construction Design International
Structural Engineer

Thornton Tomasetti
Mechanical/Electrical/Plumbing Engineer

J. Roger Preston Group
Vertical Transportation Consultant

J. Roger Preston Group/ Fortune Consultants
Landscape Consultant

AECOM
Sustainability Consultant

ARUP
Interior Design

Office: Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates, New York; Retail: Benoy, Hong Kong; Club House: Cheng Chung Design, Hong Kong
Main Contractor

China Construction First Group Construction & Development Co., Ltd.
Fire/Sustainability

ARUP
Wind Consultant

RWDI
Traffic Consultant

MVA
Lighting Consultant

Lighting Planners Associates
Curtain Wall Consultant

ALT
Façade Access Consultant

GMS
Graphic Design Consultant

Duttonbray Design Ltd.
Acoustic Consultant

Westwood Hong & Associates Ltd.

Text description provided by the architects. KPF worked with Ping An Insurance Company to design a supertall headquarters that would become the physical and iconic centre of Shenzhen’s burgeoning central business district, the Futian District. It connects to both neighboring commercial and residential properties and the Line 1 Gou Wu Gong Yuan metro station, situating the tower – and the city – prominently within the Pearl River Delta’s high-speed rail corridor that increases access to the region’s rapidly densifying cities.

Comprising 100 office floors above the retail and conference podium, the tower will accommodate 15,500 workers and 9,000 daily passengers to an observation deck. Anchored by eight stone mega-columns with diagonal bracing, the tower conveys stability at its ground level. Its chevron-shaped columns rise six hundred meters and converge at the tower’s height, mediating the tension of the earth to a single point in the sky. Sheathed in glass and stone, the podium houses a central atrium that acts as a public vestibule and sun-lit space for meeting, shopping, and dining. Five floors of retail shops terrace away from the tower, forming a large, amphitheater-like space.

Designed for local weather resistance, the tower’s tapered façade reduces wind loads by forty percent and its stainless steel piers form a protective net against lightning strikes. With its completion in 2016, Ping An Finance Centre is now the tallest building in Shenzhen, the second tallest in China, and the fourth tallest in the world. It joined other KPF supertalls, including Lotte World Tower in Seoul, Shanghai World Financial Center, International Commerce Centre in Hong Kong, and CTF Finance Centre in Guangzhou among the ranks of the world’s ten tallest towers.