Hytera, one of the world's leading radio and communication systems manufacturers, has selected SOM to design its global headquarters, in Shenzhen, China. Integrated within the context, the project joins other emerging technology enterprises in the city and introduces a new typology of office space, as well as activates the surrounding public space.
Shaping the future of Shenzhen and showcasing the company’s values, the Hytera Global Headquarter tower is located within the center of Houhai CBD District, at the end of the landscape and view corridor towards Shenzhen Bay. Designed by SOM, the ambitious project creates more suitable office spaces for tech giants within the overall framework of high-rise building design, activating the overall spatial experience while maximizing the commercial value of the property. Moreover, the intervention tackles the public urban space, provoking a dialogue between the built and unbuilt realm, and offering a new civic space.
Creating a lasting icon in Shenzhen, Hytera Houhai Headquarters Tower represents both the company and the city. Conceived as a composition of two floating rectangular blocks, the project consists of a horizontal retail podium and a vertical office tower. The podium, elevated to form a unified urban plaza on the ground level, allows the municipal green park to extend onto the project site, generating a gateway access between the subway station and surrounding parks.
“Founded on progressive principles of open space and the public realm”, according to Olin McKenzie, SOM’s Design Director in charge of this project, the Hytera Headquarters Tower puts in place a "midair" 5000 sqm garden on the roof of the podium, serving both office and retail occupants. At both ends above the podium roof garden, two crystalline volumes accommodate multi-functional events, conferences and all other corporate event functions essential to this office headquarter building.
The office block, a vertical mass, “employs a side-core layout, which not only leverages the unique site advantage and maximizes the eastern view for the open office space on each floor, but also offers the greatest future flexibility and explores a new office design methodology for the interior office layout by creating maximized interior column-less space”. Breaking the repetitive layout of traditional high-rise buildings and creating more diverse spaces, the public atrium and the connected stairs are scattered through the truss frame. In addition, the typical façade system employs a unique floating window design, and operable panels are integrated seamlessly into the sides of the floating glass.
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The design of Hytera Tower is driven by the client’s desire to create open, contiguous workplace environments with exceptional views of Shenzhen Bay. These simple programmatic requirements result in dynamic architectural impacts that ripple through the building: the elevator core - biased to the western side of the building - allows for free-flowing, highly-flexible floor plates, and works in concert with a diagonally braced truss structure that helps to balance the lateral rigidity of the tower. -- Gary Haney, SOM’s Design Partner in charge of this project.
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