Gurney Drive Skyline

China Zun Tower

China Zun Tower will be the flagship building of Beijing’s comprehensively planned 30-hectare central business district core.
The tower’s gently rising and curving form resembles an ancient Chinese ceremonial vessel, called the “zun.” The design concept is that of a transforming shell that gradually bends to create a dramatic form. This concept is also applied to other key elements of the tower, including the entrances, ground-floor lobby, and observation deck. At the base, the tower thrusts into the ground with massive corner supports, while the exterior shell is gently lifted up and stretched forward at the four sides. The design physically extends the lobby outward, forming dynamic drop-off spaces. At the top, the exterior envelope becomes more transparent at the observation deck and allows more visibility to the inner trumpet-shaped business center, which lights up at night, forming a beacon that will be visible throughout the city.
Compared to a typically straight or tapering supertall tower form, the concave tower profile offers more valuable prime-floor spaces and ample space for window washing, as well as other support systems, at the top of the tower. While the large top poses significant structural challenges, the larger base provides an opportunity for structural balance, formal contrast, and preferred core-to-perimeter distances.
In a city with the highest seismic fortification requirement of the major cities in China, the structural system was particularly sensitive to adjustments in the complex form of the building. Architects and engineers utilized parametric modeling to greatly expedite the design and coordination process to ensure that the design achieved both an iconic form and a solid structural system.

Source: The Skyscraper Center

Urban Residences In Penang

This place was once occupied by squatters. Few have ventured into the interior of the urban villages except for those who resides there. It was also thought to be the place where most local gangsters live.

However, due to the ever increasing demand of housing where every square foot of land is as precious as gold, the only solution to the population explosion is to build up.

 

Zhengzhou Greenland Plaza - The Modern Pagoda

From the architect. The Skidmore Owings & Merrill LLP (SOM)-designed Zhengzhou Greenland Plaza has opened its doors to its office users. The circular 60-story tower takes its place as the tallest building in the central Chinese city. Located in the northeast portion of Zhengzhou, the 919-feet (280-meter) tall tower’s circular form is a response to the surrounding development’s shape that centers on a manmade lake. Zhengzhou Greenland Plaza punctuates the neighborhood and provides the area—and the city—with an iconic new landmark on the skyline. 

The 2.59-million-square-feet (240,169-square-meters) building houses a mixed-use program of offices on its lower floors and a 416-key hotel above. Daylighting was a key driver of the building’s design. Sophisticated three- to five-story-tall light-gauge painted aluminum screens are configured at an outward cant that enhances interior daylighting through scientifically calculated reflections while protecting the all-glass exterior from solar gain. The screens provide multiple performance and aesthetic-related roles. The same outward cant that aids daylighting allows for a nuanced approach to artificial lighting, providing outboard locations for dramatic nighttime lighting of the building that make the tower a beacon. The screens are located between one and two-meters from the building’s curtain wall—allowing window washing to occur behind the screens. Their visual porosity varies depending on a viewer’s location. When close to the building’s base, the tower appears to be primarily metal; from a distance, the panels are more open and the building’s glass nature is revealed. The rhythmic cant of the screens, combined with their decreasing size as they rise on the building, creates a dynamic movement that gives the building a fine-grained texture that relates to the building’s humanistic aspirations. 

The form of the tower tapers slightly as it rises. “We conceived the building as a classical column,” SOM Design Director Ross Wimer says. “Its iconic image comes from this timeless form—adapted with cutting-edge, 21st century technologies to create a building that expresses our time.” These innovations include a heliostat that crowns the building and reflects daylight throughout the hotel atrium. “Like the solar screening, the heliostat is a scientifically-derived element that enhances the experience of daylight for the building’s users,” Wimer says. The device allows daylight to be reflected and focused into the atrium whose surfaces are finished to help drive light deep into the space. Computer-controlled dimmer switches modulate the light level-based on the illumination provided by the reflector, enabling the atrium to consume less energy and generate less heat throughout the year. 

Wimer notes that, while not unheard of, circular skyscrapers remain somewhat unusual. Among the best known examples are Bertrand Goldberg’s Marina City (179 meters) in Chicago, Sir Norman Foster’s 30 St. Mary Axe (180 meters) in London, Jean Nouvel’s Torre Agbar (145 meters) in Barcelona, and Adolf Loos’ unbuilt scheme for the Chicago Tribune Tower. 

Zhengzhou Greenland Plaza’s status as the tallest building in the city adds to SOM’s well-established legacy of tall buildings. SOM-designed buildings top the skylines of many cities worldwide, including Chicago, New York, Beijing, Kuwait City, Milwaukee, and Dubai—whose Burj Khalifa is the tallest structure in the world.  Zhengzhou is a prefecture-level city located on the south bank of the Yellow River and the capital of Henan province with 8.6 million residents. Greater Zhengzhou was recently named one of China’s 13 emerging megacities by the Economist Intelligence Unit. 

SOM secured the commission for the project by winning an international competition. Prior to its completion, Zhengzhou Greenland Plaza has already been honored for its design by the Asia Pacific Property Awards and the Chicago Athenaeum. Its innovative curtain wall was recognized by Architect magazine’s R+D Awards program.

Source: Archdaily 

Zhengzhou Greenland Plaza is built with the latest technology available today and yet it resembles the ancient pagodas of China. Its form is truly inspired by China's long history of culture and architecture. The influence of Chinese architecture may not be admitted by the architect but the end result is too obvious for one to ignore its resemblance to ancient icons all over China. 

The site is simply picturesque thanks to the central lake that seems to bring all the buildings towards it. This type of design planning with architecture and landscape complementing each other can easily be traced back to the ancient gardens and parks all around China.

Shanghai Tower

Construction of Shanghai Tower has been completed. Design by architecture firm Gensler, it is now China's tallest building and the second-tallest building in the world.

Located in Shanghai's burgeoning Lujiazui financial district, the 632-metre-high skyscraper is 31 metres taller than the previous title holder, the Makkah Royal Clock Tower in Mecca.

The Burj Khalifa in Dubai remains the world's tallest building at 828 metres high.

Shanghai Tower was designed with a curved and twisted form generated through a series of wind-tunnel tests. The unique form is expected to reduce wind load by as much as 24 per cent during typhoons.

It comprises 121 storeys, divided into nine vertical zones that include shops at the base, offices in the centre, and hotels, cultural facilities and observation decks at the top.

Each zone is organised around one of several "sky lobbies" – plant-filled atriums filled with natural light, designed to mimic the social environments traditionally created in town plazas and courtyards.

Shanghai Tower dwarfs other two equally magnificent skyscrapers namely Shanghai World Financial Centre and the Jin Mao Tower. 

Construction of the skyscraper was completed at the end of 2015, marking its official entry into the list of the world's top 10 tallest buildings as recorded by the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat (CTBUH).

It's dynamic form resembles an ancient dragon in motion soaring up towards heaven. Shanghai Tower symbolizes the rise of China. 

Asia Square Tower 1

Singapore's competitiveness remains as strong as ever. This is very obvious when Global investment management firm BlackRock managed to sell prime office building Asia Square Tower 1 for $3.4 billion to Qatar's sovereign wealth fund. It is the largest ever single-tower sale in Asia Pacific.

The 43-storey building was bought by the Qatar Investment Authority (QIA). Current tenants of Asia Square Tower 1 include financial services companies Citibank and Julius Baer as well as insurance firm Marsh & McLennan.

"Asia Square is one of the most prestigious commercial developments in the region and represents a rare opportunity to acquire a premium, highly sought-after property in one of Asia's most important business and financial centres," said Stuart Crow, Head of Asia Pacific Capital Markets, JLL. 

This sale is a true testament of Singapore's outstanding position as the financial hub of the region. Surrounding property may well witness an appreciation of values following this remarkable deal.

Time For Reflections

Reflections at Keppel Bay’s mesmerising forms epitomises Daniel Libeskind’s signatorial designs with his first-ever residential development in Asia. The form is so unreal that you won't know whether you are looking at real buildings or computer graphics. This project is an icon for its kind in this part of the world.

Ascending like a symphony of chords with its soaring towers and low-rise apartment blocks, this veritable masterpiece commands breathtaking views of the sea and city skyline.

At its centre stage is a 100,000 square-feet reflecting pool skirting the multiple towers. A host of lifestyle amenities, such as an Olympic-length swimming pool and a state-of-the-art gymnasium, provide stylish environment for leisure. The 5 star facilities also provide great excuse to invite friends for social gatherings.

Within 6 sky towers and 11 fan-shaped villa apartment blocks, 1,129 well-appointed luxury homes ranging from 2- to 4-bedroom apartments and penthouses; including an exquisite grand penthouse with 6 bedrooms and an entertainment lounge spanning 13,300 square-feet.

SCDA Innovative Tower

Penang Sentral Proposal

Latest computer rendering of the upcoming Penang Sentral project has surfaced recently on the internet and although the design looks plainer than the original bold proposal, it still manage to create a modern and chic atmosphere especially for mainland Penang which is lack of good architectural design.

This project will no doubt revitalize Butterworth which has long fallen into the shadow of George Town in terms of economic and tourism significance.

It is touted to be a new centre of connectivity given that it will be a new hub for integrated transportation, integrating rail, ferry and bus services. 

Penang sentral is designed to be the getaway to the Northern Corridor of Malaysia. Serving as the centre of transportation for Penang and the northern corridor, the hub also integrates retail, commercial and residential development within the planned 6 million square feet of development.

 

Tongzhou CBD

The design of UNStudio’s CBD development is a dynamic composition created by introducing asymmetry in plan, orientation, clustering and façade treatment. This build-up of asymmetries has a far-reaching urban effect whilst simultaneously relating to users on a more personal scale.

The six towers form three lively groups which interact according to a layered choreography. In relation to the ground and subterranean levels the towers are grouped in three pairs, each standing on a joint platform. As defined by the bridging connections between them, the towers are grouped as a couple, a trio and a single volume.

The silhouette of the towers is derived from a combination of substantial differences between the lower and the upper parts of the buildings and the binding together effects of diagonal wrappings. On the lower parts the towers are marked by dense stacking, whilst towards the top they become smooth and reflective. This textural contrast is mediated by the strong diagonals running the entire length of the towers.

The bridges have numerous roles. They help to cluster the towers and to form interconnections between them which can house many different semi-public functions. They also provide an artificial ground for users of the highest floors.
In addition to the application of active sustainable measures at different scale levels, passive design tools were incorporated from the initial design of the six towers and the podium clusters. Driving features are the winter gardens and green surfaces.

Source: UNStudio

Najib's Tower To Rival Mahathir's Twin Towers

KUALA LUMPUR - The political rivalry between Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad and Prime Minister Najib Razak is about to reach new heights.

When Dr Mahathir was premier, he built two 88-storey towers, making them the world's tallest buildings when they were ready in 1998.

Now Datuk Seri Najib is raising the ante with an 118-storey giant just some 4km away, which is set to be South-east Asia's tallest tower when completed in 2020.

The RM5 billion (S$1.7 billion) project is being built by state equity fund Permodalan Nasional Berhad (PNB) with a height of 630m, compared to Dr Mahathir's 452m-tall Petronas Twin Towers.

The new project is located beside the historic Merdeka Stadium, where Malaysia's independence from Britain was announced on Aug 31, 1957, hence the tower will have "merdeka" (independence) as part of its name.

The Merdeka PNB118 tower was launched last month by Mr Najib, who had denied he was in a one-upmanship with his mentor turned nemesis. The project's launching comes at a time when Dr Mahathir is making a strong push to topple Mr Najib by blaming the prime minister for the financial scandal tied to state fund 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB).

Dr Mahathir had said earlier that his brainchild Twin Towers would be eclipsed by the new tower.

"I would like to retain the Twin Towers as the highest buildings in Malaysia. At the moment we don't need any tower higher than that. We should build the 100-storey tower, but maybe a little bit later when I am not around," Dr Mahathir, who retired in October 2003 after 22 years in power, said in 2010.

Mr Najib's response then was: "No, no, it's not a question of dismantling his (legacy). That's a totally frivolous statement."

He added: "What Tun Mahathir has done is admirable, what we need to do is to build on his success and move on."

Like the Petronas Twin Towers when it was announced, the new tower has been panned by critics. Some are worried about a glut in office and commercial space in coming years, while others questioned its location in a historic and congested part of Kuala Lumpur.

The Petronas Twin Towers were built on former race course land surrounded by narrow traffic-clogged roads.

The new tower is being built just beside Chinatown or Petaling Street, where three old stadiums are located - Stadium Merdeka, Stadium Negara and Chin Woo Stadium. Stadium Negara was Malaysia's first indoor stadium.

There are also several schools around the upcoming tower.

The complex will add about 1.7 million sq ft of office space when completed, in addition to 4.8 million sq ft that will be on offer in 2019 from several other projects.

Property expert Y. Y. Lau told reporters that Malaysia had faced an oversupply situation in 2012 which is expected to resolve by 2018 when occupancy rates should rise faster than new completions.

But with major property projects coming up from 2019, she said there will be an oversupply situation. "Whether the situation will pick up will depend on the demand," said Ms Lau, country head of JLL Property Services Malaysia.

Malaysia's central bank echoed similar worries recently, saying significant incoming supply of office space could worsen the oversupply situation. The report noted that in the next three years, an average of 4.9 million sq feet of office space will be added to the market each year, far more compared with the historical annual average of 2.8 million sq feet.

"In other countries, this (an oversupply situation) actually precipitated an economic downturn," deputy governor Dr Sukhdave Singh said at a conference organised by the Malaysian Economic Association.

Still, economist Jalilah Baba was more optimistic, saying that the global economic situation could improve and demand may revive when Merdeka PNB118 is finished.

"This tower is being built for the future, to attract investors. There is nothing wrong with having more than one tower, as other cities like Chicago are full of high-rise buildings," Datuk Jalilah told The Straits Times.

At the project's launching, Mr Najib said the tower will be an iconic landmark that defines Kuala Lumpur as a capital city, attracting both tourists and investors.

Instead of being in competition with each other, Ms Jalilah said both the Twin Towers and Merdeka PNB118 should be complementary in promoting Malaysia.

"We must have a few buildings that we are proud of instead of just promoting the same building all the time," she said.

The tower has faced protests from activists since being mooted, as some had insisted that the project land be turned into a national park.

Defend Our Heritage Association coalition president Ishak Surin believed that the futuristic tower would erode history and should be built in more suitable location.

"This area has rich history, with this new building, the history of the place will be lost," he said.

Source: The Straits Times 

 

Penang International Commercial Centre

Penang International Commercial City is a development that includes service apartment, apartment towers, two hotels, a business-process outsourcing (BPO) tower, a medical centre, shopping mall, and 15,000 sheltered car-parking bays. Developed by Hunza Group, the project will commerce in mid 2017 and to be completed in 2021.

Marriott Gurney Drive

With the rate of high rise development, Komtar will soon lose its status as the tallest building in Penang.

 

Zaha Hadid Dies

Dame Zaha Hadid, the world-renowned architect, whose designs include the London Olympic aquatic centre, has died aged 65. The British designer, who was born in Iraq, had a heart attack on Thursday while in hospital in Miami, where she was being treated for bronchitis.

Hadid’s buildings have been commissioned around the world and she was the first woman to receive the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) gold medal. 

A lengthy statement released by her company said: “It is with great sadness that Zaha Hadid Architects have confirmed that Dame Zaha Hadid DBE died suddenly in Miami in the early hours of this morning. 

“She had contracted bronchitis earlier this week and suffered a sudden heart attack while being treated in hospital. Zaha Hadid was widely regarded to be the greatest female architect in the world today.”

Speaking from Mexico, Richard Rogers, whose buildings include the Pompidou Centre and the Millennium Dome, told the Guardian that the news of Hadid’s death was “really, really terrible”.

“She was a great architect, a wonderful woman and wonderful person,” Lord Rogers said. “Among architects emerging in the last few decades, no one had any more impact than she did. She fought her way through as a woman. She was the first woman to win the Pritzker prize.

“I got involved with her first in Cardiff when the government threw her off the project in the most disgraceful way. She has had to fight every inch of the way. It is a great loss.”

Jane Duncan, RIBA’s president, said: “Dame Zaha Hadid was an inspirational woman, and the kind of architect one can only dream of being. Visionary and highly experimental, her legacy, despite her young age, is formidable.

“She leaves behind a body of work from buildings to furniture, footwear and cars, that delight and astound people all around the world. The world of architecture has lost a star today.” 

The architect Daniel Libeskind said he was devastated by her death. “Her spirit will live on in her work and studio. Our hearts go out,” he said.

 

Stirling prize winner Amanda Levete said: “She was an inspiration. Her global impact was profound and her legacy will be felt for many years to come because she shifted the culture of architecture and the way that we experience buildings. When my son was very young, Zaha showed him how to write his name in Arabic. It was the moment I realised the genesis of her remarkable architectural language. 

 

“She was an extraordinary role model for women. She was fearless and a trailblazer – her work was brave and radical. Despite sometimes feeling misunderstood, she was widely celebrated and rightly so.”

Architect Graham Morrison said: “She was so distinct that there isn’t anybody like her. She didn’t fit in and I don’t mean that meanly. She was in a world of her own and she was extraordinary.”

The British culture minister, Ed Vaizey, posted on Twitter, saying he was stunned at the news and praising her “huge contribution to contemporary architecture”.

The London mayor, Boris Johnson, tweeted: “So sad to hear of death of Zaha Hadid, she was an inspiration and her legacy lives on in wonderful buildings in Stratford and around the world.”

Hadid, born in Baghdad in 1950, became a revolutionary force in British architecture even though she struggled to win commissions in the UK for many years. The Iraqi government described her death as “an irreplaceable loss to Iraq and the global community”.

She studied mathematics at the American University of Beirut before launching her architectural career in London at the Architectural Association. 

By 1979, she had established her own practice in London – Zaha Hadid Architects – and gained a reputation across the world for groundbreaking theoretical works including the Peak in Hong Kong (1983), Kurfürstendamm 70 in Berlin (1986) and the Cardiff Bay opera house in Wales (1994). 

The first major build commission that earned her international recognition was the Vitra fire station in Weil Am Rhein, Germany (1993), but her scheme to build the Cardiff opera house was scrapped in the 1990s and she did not produce a major building in the UK until the Riverside museum of transport in Glasgow was completed in 2011.

Other notable projects included the Maxxi: Italian National Museum of 21st Century Arts in Rome (2009), the London aquatics centre for the 2012 Olympic Games (2011), the Heydar Aliyev centre in Baku (2013) and a stadium for the 2022 football World Cup in Qatar.

Buildings such as the Rosenthal Centre of Contemporary Art in Cincinnati (2003) and the Guangzhou opera house in China (2010) were also hailed as architecture that transformed ideas of the future. Other designs include the Serpentine Sackler Gallery in Kensington Gardens, west London, and the BMW factory in Leipzig, one of her first designs to be built.

She became the first female recipient of the Pritzker architecture prize in 2004 and twice won the UK’s most prestigious architecture award, the RIBA Stirling prize. Other awards included the Republic of France’s Commandeur de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres and Japan’s Praemium Imperiale.

Hadid won acclaim in Scotland for designing the popular Riverside Museum in Glasgow, known for its distinctive roof structure. Muriel Gray, chair of the board of governors at the Glasgow School of Art, tweeted a picture of the Riverside museum with the message: “Horrible shocking news that Zaha Hadid, incredible architectural trailblazer has just died. Huge loss to design.”

Hadid was recently awarded the RIBA’s 2016 royal gold medal, the first woman to be awarded the honour in her own right.

Architect Sir Peter Cook wrote in his citation at the time: “In our current culture of ticking every box, surely Zaha Hadid succeeds, since, to quote the royal gold medal criteria, she is someone who ‘has made a significant contribution to the theory or practice of architecture … for a substantial body of work rather than for work which is currently fashionable’.

“For three decades now she has ventured where few would dare … Such self confidence is easily accepted in film-makers and football managers, but causes some architects to feel uncomfortable. Maybe they’re secretly jealous of her unquestionable talent. Let’s face it, we might have awarded the medal to a worthy comfortable character. We didn’t. We awarded it to Zaha: larger than life, bold as brass and certainly on the case.”

Speaking in February on BBC Radio 4’s Desert Island Discs, Hadid said: “I don’t really feel I’m part of the establishment. I’m not outside, I’m on the kind of edge, I’m dangling there. I quite like it … I’m not against the establishment per se. I just do what I do and that’s it.”

Levete, who co-designed the spaceship-like media centre at Lord’s cricket ground, described her as “a true and loyal friend … a confidante and someone I could turn to for advice”.

She said: “She was an absolute inspiration to many and her global impact was really profound.” 

Kelly Hoppen, the interior designer who appeared in BBC2’s show Dragons’ Den, tweeted: “Deeply saddened by the news of Zaha Hadid’s death. She was an iconic architect who pushed the boundaries to another level xx ZahaHadid”

Angela Brady, a former president of RIBA, described Hadid as “one of our greatest architects of our time”.

She added: “She was a tough architect, which is needed as a woman at the top of her profession and at the height of her career. She will be sadly missed as an iconic leader in architecture and as a role model for women in architecture.”

A spokeswoman for BMW said: “She was an icon in the world of architecture, groundbreaking in her way to create with a very distinctive style. On the 10th anniversary of our Leipzig plant’s central building which she was the architect for , Zaha said that she felt it gave testament to the plant’s vision. We are glad she felt this way, too.”

Author Kathy Lette tweeted Hadid’s “beautiful, undulating feminine designs proved that u didn’t need a phallic edifice complex 2 be a brilliant architect”.

Tamara Rojo, English National Ballet director and dancer, tweeted: “Devastated by the passing of the great Zaha Hadid” with a picture of “her stunning Opera House in Guangzhou where we performed last year”. 

Source: The Guardian

In Asia, two unconventional built skyscrapers clearly have signature of Zaha Hadid at every angles you look.

Hong Kong Polytechnic University

Wangjing SOHO, China

Gurney Drive

One of the most happening place in Penang has to be the world renowed Gurney Drive which has everything for everyone. Hotels, world class shopping malls and street hawker food can all be find here, a truly all encompassing experience for families traveling to this famed island.

Gurney Drive promenade comes to life at night.

High rise apartments mushrooming around the area of Gurney Drive and Pulau Tikus as it is the prominent address of the island where everyone likes to live here.

Gurney Paragon - office, shopping and residential all under one roof.