MVRDV’s Shenzhen Guosen Tower Is A Giant Energy Efficient Chinese Lantern

This new landmark tower slated for Shenzhen, China will house the <a href="http://www.mvrdv.nl/#/projects/tp485shenzhenguosentower" target="_blank">headquarters of the Guosen Securities corporation</a>. The primary objective for the design of Guosen's new tower was that it be energy efficient and cool, which <a href="http://inhabitat.com/tag/MVRDV">MVRDV</a> was able to provide with its competition winning design. Resembling a giant Chinese lantern, the 204 meter tall tower will feature shading louvers on every floor, rainwater recycling, and <a href="http://inhabitat.com/category/daylighting">natural daylighting</a> for each employee's work station.

The volume of the tower has a square floor plan with a elegant, slender volume, which allows daylight to reach into the building to provide a more pleasurable working environment for the employees.

So each worker has access to views and natural daylight, no workspace was placed further than 11 meters away from the facade.

The edge of each floor was angled down 35-55 degrees to create a shade for the floor below and large glass fronts connect these louvers together.

Louver size and angle was optimized for its location on the building and relationship to the sun. For example, on the north side, the louvers are smaller than on the south side.

The louvers can also accommodate solar panels to generate electricity, and they reduce the overall cooling load by 33%. Rainwater is collected off the louvers and piped into the grey water circulation for use inside the building.

Plus a lengthy water pipe system runs invisibly through the façade collecting heat from the sun and the solar cells to heat up water. Employees and visitors have quick and easy access via an underground tunnel to the nearby metro station.

Parts of the facade are lifted to create a double height ceiling for a more dramatic effect and better views of the city. This feature is at the entrance on the ground floor, two places in the tower and then the executive lounge at the top.

These two double height features in the middle of the tower are designed as small amphitheaters with terraced seating that can be used for conferences and gatherings.

A low rise building next to the tower holds a shopping and conference center. The end result of the louvered tower resembles a giant Chinese lantern, which at night will provide a warm glow to the city.