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The Exo Towers L'edifici D'oficines by United Units Architects

The Exo Towers L'edifici D'oficines by United Units Architects is a highly esteemed winner of the very prestigious 2023 A' Design Award d'Argent in Disseny d'Arquitectura, Edificació i Estructures Competition Category.


ArgentArquitectura· 2023

The Exo Towers L'edifici D'oficines

by United Units Architects

Client: United Units Architects

A' Design Award d'Argent Winner in Arquitectura Category

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Verified Award Winner

Verify Award Status for #142721

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The Design

About The Exo Towers L'edifici D'oficines

Les Exo Towers estan formades per dues torres i enllaçades per un atri central vidrat de 70 m d'alçada. Com a centre financer digital del Banc de Ruifeng, l'edifici utilitza un sistema estructural extern que redueix considerablement el nombre de columnes de la planta típica, creant un espai d'oficina gran i obert, que permet la divisió flexible contínua de la disposició funcional per fer front a la ajustos empresarials bancaris provocats pels nous reptes digitals. Per tant, les Exo Towers deriva el seu llenguatge arquitectònic de la manera en què l'espai i l'estructura estan completament integrats.

The Recognition

About the A' Design Award d'Argent

The Exo Towers L'edifici D'oficines és un guanyador del guardó A' Design Award d'Argent, un reconeixement extraordinàriament prestigiós concedit a dissenys d'alta gamma, esplèndids i impressionants. Els guanyadors d'Argent són obres tremendament brillants i summament creatives que il·lustren la perícia, el talent i la perspicàcia excepcionals dels seus dissenyadors. Es preveu que The Exo Towers L'edifici D'oficines sigui una obra meravellosa i de gran lluïment, remarcablement professional i profundament innovadora. Aquest disseny guanyador del guardó A' Design Award d'Argent és un invent molt notable i admirat que beneficia i fa avançar els límits de l'art, la ciència, el disseny i la tecnologia. The Exo Towers L'edifici D'oficines és una creació molt envejada que evoca desitjos, introdueix sentiments positius i desperta sorpresa i admiració.

Behind the Design

Press Kit

Credits, team members and technical details provided by the designer.

Unique Properties
The Exo Towers is comprised of two towers and linked together by a 70m-high central glazed atrium. As the digital finance center of the Bank of Ruifeng, the building utilizes an external structural system that greatly reduces the number of columns of the typical floor, creating large and open office space, allowing for the ongoing flexible division of functional layout to cope with the banking business adjustments brought on by new digital challenges. The Exo Towers therefore derives its architectural language from the manner in which the space and structure are completely integrated.
Dimensions & Packaging
Having a gross floor area of 74,000 m2, the Exo Towers is comprised of two towers, being 15-storey (94m) and 21-storey(121m) high respectively, and linked together by a 70m-high central glazed atrium.
Tags
Headquarters, Bank, Office, Towers, Hi-Tech, Atrium, Structure, Cable-Net Facade, Sky Bridges, Sky Gardens
Production Technology
The Exo Towers adopts a hybrid system of steel structure and concrete structure. The central concrete core and the external steel frame jointly constitute a supporting system. Rising up from a unified pile and raft foundation, the two towers are connected by two sets of large trusses at the top of the atrium. The external structure is clad with linen patterned stainless steel plate. The main canopy are prefabricated in factories and bolted on the site. The cable-net glazing shows an extraordinary transparency and clarity by hiding the anchors and spring assemblies in an ingenious way.
Design Challenge
The project team was faced with a number of significant structural challenges, seeing numerous of vertical components not touching the ground combined with diagonal braces. This not only means an increase in the design difficulty and workload, but also requires extra time and effort to apply for an Irregular High-rise Building Review to verify the seismic and fire safety of the building from a technical point of view. Fortunately we had the complete support of the client to follow our original aspiration to design an excellent landmark building with structural authenticity.
Research
In order to effectively organize all architectural elements, the Exo Towers adopts an integrated design approach. A 1.5m x 1.5m modular grid system is utilized to regulate the architectural form, position and define the spatial layout, structural form, building envelop and MEP services, facilitating mutually dependent and defined systems. Due to the highly prefabricated design and construction methods, the average number of daily workers on the site was about 80 people, which is a reduction of a third when compared with a conventional construction site of a similar scale.
Inspiration
Around the same time as the project began in 2013, the nature of banking underwent a rapid transition, with mobile payments and cashless transactions from Chinese Internet companies becoming the norm. To cope with this rapid change, there was a pressing need for financial institutions to cope with new digital challenges through business adjustment and organizational restructuring. To allow for future changes in working patterns, the design principles of flexibility and versatility were central to the design of the office layout.
Project Duration
Located in the central position of Jinghu New District, Shaoxing, Zhejiang Province, China, the Exo Towers was started in April/2013 and completed in June/2021.
Operation Flow
The 70m full-height glazed atrium between the two towers is the spatial core of the whole building. Along the west facade, six sky bridges span between the two towers and enhance the building's horizontal connections. Cloud-shaped sunshades are suspended at the top of the atrium. A full height cable-net glass curtain wall is used for the east facade of the atrium. The atrium spaces are flooded with natural daylight, thus every floor in each tower receives daylight from two directions, outside and inside, considerably enhancing the internal ambience and working conditions.
Team Members
Yongzheng Li
Tim Mason
Qizhi Li
Qian Lu
Yanfeng Lyu
Teng Jiang
Liang Xu
Yuan Tian
Jessie Millar
Image Credits
Photographer / Lian He

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