Suzhon Center, Chine

Greenland Group's Suzhou Center in Wujiang, China

 

 

The Chicago office of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill LLP (SOM) announced that it has won an international competition to design the Greenland Group Suzhou Center, on Taihu Lake in Wujiang, China, reports Dezeen. The 358-meter supertall tower will top out at 75 stories and will contain a mixed-use program that could comprise a small city--with office, apartments, hotel, and retail uses on site. 

The most striking feature of the exterior design is the 30-story high operable window that spans the hotel and residential floors.

The building also features an atrium in the center of the building that separated the east and west side of the building and functioning as a ventilation channel. According to Luke Leung, SOM Director of Sustainable and MEP Engineering: “The design of the Greenland Group Suzhou Center utilizes an atrium as the ‘lung’ of the building to provide ventilation and will incorporate a series of high efficiency measures with the objective to achieve a 60% savings in energy consumption compared to a conventional US high rise and a 60% reduction in potable water use.”

The building’s expansive lobby is a result of the building a novel approach maximizing the efficiency of the building structure:  “[the] unique split-core configuration of the upper floors increases the efficiency of the building structure. By placing half of the building core program on each side of the lobby and interconnecting them with structural steel braces, the combined core becomes more effective than a typical center core system while also creating a dramatic tall lobby space within.”

SOM also recently announced the opening of a new design studio in Downtown Los Angeles as part of the firm's West Coast practice. Michael Mann, FAIA; Paul Danna, AIA; and Jose Luis Palacios, AIA will lead the new studio--all three come from AECOM but all three also worked for SOM in the past. 

RMJM Le Meridien Hotel, Doha, Qatar

Le Meridien Hotel, Doha is an iconic and elegantly proportioned 60 storey tower that provides 77,500m2 of built up area.

The tower is both dynamic and elegant, rising 230 meters above the ground, providing 249 keys of hotel rooms & suites and 66 serviced apartments within a ground site area of approximately 3000 m2. Also provided are 2,100 m2 of retail and food and beverage facilities and 1300 m2 of ballrooms, function & meeting facilities. 

Le Meridien Spa and Health club is located on the 31st to 33rd and a 500 m2 SkyLounge and Terrace is provided at the top of the building, with providing spectacular views out over the surrounding context.

An 8 storey media Art Wall is envisioned onto which media artists can display their works. 

A unique pre cambered core technology is adopted for this building in order to support the cantilevered floors above level 10. This is similar to the technology that was used for the Capital Gate Project, Abu Dhabi.  

RMJM masterplans new city, Pakistan

The Dubai studio of RMJM has unveiled an ambitious masterplan for a new city near Karachi in Pakistan.

Situated 50km from Karachi, DHA City is said to be a ’21st Century model city’ for the country.

Located on a 11,640-acre rural site.

The masterplan consists of 50,000 residential and commercial plots, specialised healthcare and higher education institutes, theme parks, a convention centre, informal and formal sports and recreation facilities and resorts, retail and restaurants, along with all necessary community facilities.

 

Ziyad Mahmoud, associate at RMJM, said:” “The masterplan promotes the concept of mixed use residential sectors by creating multiple centres within them spreading facilities such as commerce, amenities and parks throughout these areas.

“The principle behind the masterplan is a group of self-sustaining cities within a city, with community amenities accessible to all residents within a 10 minute walk.

The downtown district will be defined by a car-free pedestrianised spine with tree-lined pathways, garden courtyards, water features and piazzas.

The entire masterplan approach is focused on sustainable design principles and these principles have been implemented across the entire city. A strategy has been laid out that looks at maintaining the ecological integrity of the site through the preservation and incorporation of prominent natural features that are integrated as green fingers and wind corridors.

Construction on the new city is expected to start in early 2012, commencing with primary infrastructures and facilities. Construction of the development will then progress in stages, with full completion expected by 2030.

RMJM won a design competition in August 2010 to undertake the master planning study. It partnered with Doxiadis and Osmani Associates, along with chief planner Professor Spiro Pollalis.

Pan Pacific- Luxurious suites , Singapor

Luxurious suites with integrated home-office lifestyle

The Pan Pacific Service Suites is a 16-storey addition to the popular shopping district of Singapore. The project is redevelop an existing office to a new development with serviced apartment and offices. Furthering understanding of the fast-paced environment and evolving concepts of live-work-play in present context, 126 suites were interpreted from the client’s requirements into compact, integrated lifestyle pads for dual-use.

Given the high visibility and vibrancy of the site, the unique shape of building crafted with dark-tinted glass and louvered aluminum fins, creates transparency yet maintained the properties to prevent heat gains. The long bay windows on the façade, punctuated with random pattern opaque areas, are double glazed for energy efficiency. Aesthetic interest is maintained with rhythmic bay window ledges doubling up as LED light boxes that are thoughtfully concealed, giving character to the building, both during day and night.

Upon entry, the guests depart the hustle and bustle of the busy street into the relaxing ambience of entrance reception. They are then directed to the check in reception above on the 11th floor where the framed cityscape vista greets as the lift door draws apart - a refreshing experience optimising on the advantages offered by the site. The welcome continues with multiple lush green terraces arranged in an intricate alternating manner, climbing up the central common light well. These vertical outdoor lounge spaces offer guests ideal settings for parties or quiet gatherings held amidst a relaxing retreat above Orchard Road’s city lights.