Winner: Skidmore, Owings & Merrill LLP
Award: Merit Award for Architecture
This 330 meter tower is the heart of the China World Trade Center (CWTC), Beijing’s preeminent mixed use development. The master plan and internal site circulation, particularly pedestrian, were carefully developed with the existing CWTC Phase 1 & 2 programs to create a great urban center. The project meets the ground with public gardens, active retail frontages, protected courts, and a green-roofed retail and ballroom podium to bring a sense of urbanity to the CBD.
The 81-story tower includes public lobbies and hotel amenities at the podium levels, Class A offices, and a 5-star China World Hotel Summit Wing on the upper floors. The tapered form and folded glass exterior create an elegantly proportioned tower during the day which is enhanced by the movement of the sun. Projecting fritted glass fins shade the facade and reflect a soft diffused light into the interiors for superior daylighting. The unique LED exterior and crown lighting gives the tower a beautiful and sophisticated silhouette on the evening skyline. Numerous passive and active sustainable features such as angled retail glass reducing solar gain, ice storage, and absorption chillers using waste city heat enable the project to have provisional certification for LEED® Gold.