The Exo Towers Bilding Biwo by United Units Architects

The Exo Towers Bilding Biwo by United Units Architects is a highly esteemed winner of the very prestigious 2023 A' Design Award Ajan in Achitekti Competition Category.

AjanAchitekti· 2023

The Exo Towers Bilding Biwo

by United Units Architects

Client: United Units Architects

A' Design Award Ajan Winner in Achitekti Category

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Verified Award Winner
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Colors

The Design

About The Exo Towers Bilding Biwo

Exo Towers yo konpoze de de gwo fò tou won ak lye ansanm pa yon atrium santral lustres 70m-wo. Kòm sant finans dijital Bank nan Ruifeng, bilding lan itilize yon sistèm estriktirèl ekstèn ki redwi anpil kantite kolòn nan etaj tipik la, kreye espas biwo gwo ak louvri, sa ki pèmèt divizyon fleksib kontinyèl nan layout fonksyonèl fè fas ak la. Ajisteman biznis bankè te pote sou nouvo defi dijital. Se poutèt sa, Exo Towers yo soti langaj achitekti li yo nan fason espas ki la ak estrikti yo konplètman entegre.

The Recognition

About the A' Design Award Ajan

The Exo Towers Bilding Biwo se yon ganyan A' Design Award Ajan, yon rekonesans ki gen yon prestij enmans yo bay design nivo siperyè, bèl anpil e enpresyonan. Ganyan Ajan yo se travay ki trè briyan e ki trè kreyatif ki montre ekspètiz, talan ak finès designer yo. Yo atann The Exo Towers Bilding Biwo pou se yon bèl travay modèl, remakab nan pwofesyonalis e ki gen gwo inovasyon. Design sa a ki ganyen A' Design Award Ajan se yon envansyon trè remakab, admire ki pote benefis e ki pouse limit atizay, syans, design ak teknoloji. The Exo Towers Bilding Biwo se yon kreyasyon anpil moun jalou ki reveye dezi, ki pote santiman pozitif e ki limen sipriz ak mèvèy.

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