Hangzhou Wangchao Center. Image © SOM | MIYSIS
Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM) recently unveiled the design for the Hangzhou Wangchao Center in Hangzhou, China. The tower will add 125,000 sm of office, hotel, and retail space directly adjacent to one of the city’s new subway stations.
The tower’s silhouette is the result of an efficient structural system that minimizes wind loads with eight mega-columns that slope outward at the corners to create large, flexible floor plates. As the corner columns move farther apart, secondary perimeter columns branch out to maintain equal bays.