The Exo Towers 辦公大樓 by United Units Architects

The Exo Towers 辦公大樓 by United Units Architects is a highly esteemed winner of the very prestigious 2023 A' Design Award 銀獎 in 建築、樓宇及結構設計 Competition Category.

銀建築· 2023

The Exo Towers 辦公大樓

by United Units Architects

Client: United Units Architects

A' Design Award 銀獎 Winner in 建築 Category

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The Design

About The Exo Towers 辦公大樓

Exo Towers 由兩座塔樓組成，透過 70m 高的中央玻璃中庭連接在一起。作為瑞豐銀行的數位金融中心，該建築採用外部結構體系，大大減少了典型樓層的柱數，創造了大而開放的辦公空間，允許不斷靈活的功能佈局劃分，以應對新的數位化挑戰帶來的銀行業務調整。因此，Exo Towers 的建築語言源自於空間和結構完全整合的方式。

The Recognition

About the A' Design Award 銀獎

The Exo Towers 辦公大樓是 A' Design Award 銀獎得主，這是授予頂級、華美而令人印象深刻的設計的極為崇高的認可。銀獎得主是極其卓越、極具創造力的作品，展現出其設計師傑出的專業技能、才華與敏銳。預計The Exo Towers 辦公大樓將成為一件出色的典範之作，兼具非凡的專業性與深刻的創新性。這件贏得 A' Design Award 銀獎的設計是一項備受矚目、令人欽佩的發明，造福並拓展藝術、科學、設計和技術的界限。The Exo Towers 辦公大樓是一件令人羨慕的創作，它喚起渴望，帶來積極的情感，並激發驚嘆與讚嘆。

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