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Wednesday, 25 January 2012

CHINA'S EYE OF THE NEEDLE SKYSCRAPER


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Chicago-based firm Skidmore, Owings & Merrill LLP (SOM) recently won an international competition to design the Greenland Group Suzhou Center in Wujiang, China. Resembling the eye of a needle, the 358-meter skyscraper features a 30-story-high atrium and will become a defining visual landmark for the city.

Located beside Taihu Lake, the skyscraper will include offices, apartments and shops. A hotel will be housed across 75 stories behind the tower’s curved and tapered exterior.

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According to the architects, the tall atrium is a key design feature of the building. It maximizes daylight penetration, facilitates mixed mode ventilation in the lobbies and public spaces and acts as a fresh air supply source for the tower. The building is oriented to harness both the stack effect and prevailing winds via the east and west façades of the atrium.

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Luke Leung, SOM Director of Sustainable and MEP Engineering, explains: “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.”

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Visit the Skidmore, Owings & Merrill LLP (SOM) website cited below for the official information.



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