Aecom’s design team undertook to create a low-profile solution that retained some of the original features, such as the rectangular block and the atrium. The architects made use of the 15m floor to ceiling space, inserting a mezzanine layer. The use of wood added warmth to the cold steel window frames. There is plenty of open common space indoors as well as a landscaped patio of more than 900m2 and verandah.
“To turn this industrial building into a high end office tower, we created a “cut through” the centre of the block,” said Wang Yimin, Aecom South China vice president for architecture. “This immediately converted the “dark core” into a bright one, bringing natural sunlight and a welcoming ambience into the ground floor lobby. We also retained the 15m headroom facilitating natural light and created a layout of 20 individual units on each floor of 4,000m2 to allow maximum flexibility for potential tenants.”
As part of China’s Economic Development Focus Policy, Shekou was identified as an industrial centre in the early 1980s and attracted significant manufacturing investment. More recently, the city put together a strategy to renew Shekou from the industrial model of economic development into a modern benchmark for community development.
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