Four by Two

Within the new CBD of Changzhi, designed by Superimpose, four diamond-plan shaped office towers will arrise. The client’s brief requests for a high-end office development (Grade A), which will be situated at a revitalized riverbank and alongside the most prominent street through the newly developed CBD. The project is currently going through government approval stage.

The client’s request was to create four independent towers which could be sold or leased to 4 different banks and companies. The small site, surrounding residential and office tower developments, and the high FAR, required for a innovative strategy. The only possible outcome of detaching the four towers would be unusable slim floor plates, with the majority of offices directly facing the offices in the adjacent towers.

Superimpose suggested to physically combine the four towers to two sets of two merged towers. This allows for a better spacing in between the different towers, a decreased amount of fire-climbing zones and possible double use of escape staircases to increase the efficiency of each floor plate. In order to provide individual identity for the four companies, the towers are rotated away from each other, generating a recognizable street interface for each of the four merged towers. In addition, the floor plates have been tapered towards the end in order to create more privacy in between the towers and to enhance a slim appearance of the development towards the main street and the river. Also, by tapering the towers, office views are being diverted to overlook the city and the river instead of the neighboring office.