The Beijing Institute of Architectural Design and Research Co., Ltd. (BIAD) operates across a wide range of fields, including urban planning, investment planning, large-scale public building design, civil building design, interior decoration, landscape design, intelligent building system engineering, preliminary budget preparation, engineering supervision, and general contracting. Since its founding in 1949, BIAD has completed architectural designs covering over 150 million square meters. From 1977 to the present, its projects have received a total of 1,166 awards and honors from the Beijing Municipal Government, including the Capital Architecture Design Outstanding Contribution Design Research Unit honorary title. The institute maintains 12 branch offices nationwide, with architectural designs spanning all 31 provinces, municipalities, and autonomous regions in China.
Known simply as the “Institute,” BIAD is a renowned architectural design firm that has recently expanded into diverse professional collaborations and synchronous design for complex forms and comprehensive buildings. BIM technology has been integrated into key projects such as Phoenix TV Media Center and Shenzhen Airport Terminal 3. For the “CBD-Z15 China Respect” project, BIM serves as the core platform to provide optimal solutions throughout the entire building lifecycle, from design through construction.
Figure 1: China’s Respectful Vision
Related software used includes:
- Autodesk® Revit® Architecture
- Autodesk® Revit® Structure
- Autodesk® Revit® MEP
- Autodesk® Navisworks®
- Autodesk® DesignReview
- Autodesk® Ecotect® Analysis
- Autodesk® Simulation CFD
- AutoCAD®
Customer Feedback:
“In the digital age, our architectural concepts have evolved significantly. BIM technology not only enables unprecedented expression in design results, but—more importantly—it transforms traditional thinking. It opens new possibilities in pursuing aesthetics, technological control, product processing, and construction.”
— Zhu Xiaodi, Chairman, Beijing Architectural Design and Research Institute Co., Ltd.
“Information technology, systematic scientific methods, and rigorous overall control allow BIM achievements to be deeply applied across conceptual design, schematic design, construction documentation, coordination, and facility management. This ensures ultra-high quality architectural production through precision manufacturing.”
— Xu Quansheng, General Manager, Beijing Architectural Design and Research Institute Co., Ltd.
“BIM technology enables architects to control every aspect of a building from design to construction with unprecedented precision, driving the next major transformation in architectural design.”
— Shao Weiping, Executive Chief Architect and Project Leader for Z15 China Zun, Beijing Institute of Architectural Design and Research Co., Ltd.
“Autodesk Revit is currently the most advanced architectural software, designed to match the workflow of architects and designers, delivering higher quality and more accurate designs.”
— Chen Yi, Chief Engineer, BIM Research Laboratory, Beijing Architectural Design and Research Institute Co., Ltd.
Figure 2: Project Module Division Concept
Digitally Precise Creation of Beijing’s New Landmark Z15 “China Respect”: BIM Technology Application
Project Overview:
The Z15 plot is located at the core of Beijing’s CBD and is famously referred to as “China Respect” for its unique architectural design. CITIC Group, leveraging its strong capabilities and vision, has integrated international high-end business resources to create a multifunctional complex combining finance, office, commerce, and tourism, aiming to establish a world-class headquarters service platform.
The project sits on the central axis of the Beijing CBD core area, covering approximately 1.15 hectares. The total construction area is 437,000 square meters, including 350,000 square meters above ground and 87,000 square meters underground. The tower features 108 floors above ground and seven underground, reaching a height of 528 meters, making it the tallest building in Beijing and a new city landmark.
The tower’s design draws inspiration from the traditional Chinese ritual vessel, the “Zun.” It balances structural needs with office space requirements while abstracting and optimizing proportions to maintain the building’s unique curved silhouette, creating elegance and beauty. The floor plan is a square with rounded corners, with dimensions varying from a 78-meter-wide base, narrowing to 54 meters at 385 meters height (the waist), and widening again to 69 meters at the top.
Figure 3: Architectural Design Research at the Urban Scale
Z15 is an exceptionally complex super-tall project. Traditional architectural concepts alone are insufficient, requiring a scientifically sound, logically clear, and well-organized design framework tailored specifically to this project’s characteristics.
The overall design framework is based on the building’s macro structural frame and ten functional zones. Considering scale, transportation, fire safety, security, and meteorology, the building is divided into five modular units: modules one through five correspond to zones ZB and Z0, Z1 and Z2, Z3 and Z4, Z5 and Z6, and Z7 and Z8 respectively.
Whenever feasible, all systems are designed according to these modular divisions. The building’s basic operational systems are constructed with modularity in mind, ensuring each module has independent operational and safety capabilities, with reliable separation between modules. Local emergencies are managed within individual modules first.
The BIM-based Autodesk software has effectively addressed various challenges related to space, structure, and specialized expertise for the “China Respect” project.
Project Challenges:
Space: Located in the Beijing CBD core area, the project’s spatial relationships at the urban scale require precise delineation, especially the connections with large underground public facilities. The building must adapt sustainably to the city’s future development. Both the tower’s crown and base provide valuable public activity spaces, featuring special shapes and materials that present design challenges due to the ultra-high plot ratio.
Structure: As the first building over 500 meters tall in an eight-degree seismic zone, stringent structural safety requirements apply. The structure not only supports the architecture but also contributes spatially to the building’s expression. Achieving precise control over structural systems and components from a spatial perspective is a major design challenge.
Professional Collaboration: The project engaged renowned consultants including Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates PC (KPF) from the United States as architectural consultants; Ove Arup & Partners Hong Kong Ltd. (ARUP) as structural consultants; Parsons Brinckerhoff (Asia) Ltd. (PB) for mechanical and electrical consulting; and CITIC Architecture Design and Research Institute Co., Ltd. as a special consultant. Additional world-class consultants for curtain walls, lighting, transportation, landscape, and other specialties ensured the project’s high-quality standards. Beijing Institute managed the overall BIM model production and maintenance.
Figure 4: Tower Base Modeling Treatment
Typical BIM Applications in Architectural Design:
BIAD uses its BIM database to extract detailed site and surrounding urban information, creating a comprehensive model of the surrounding area, including underground public spaces within the CBD core. This data enables in-depth control of spatial connections, municipal integrations, and design impact assessments.
Advanced computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations optimized the tower shape and supported environmental design decisions.
The tower’s base and crown feature complex curved eaves that create rich spatial effects and provide valuable public spaces. The crown includes a 360-degree panoramic viewing platform, set to be the world’s tallest public observation deck upon completion. The design offers a unique experience that showcases Beijing’s status as a historic and cultural capital.
Figure 5: Spatial Effect of the Sightseeing Platform
Typical BIM Applications in Structural Design:
The tower’s distinctive waist narrowing significantly influences its structural system. To accurately describe the structure and components, a tailored geometric control system was developed. This system manages overall structural design requirements and precisely describes the curtain wall and maintenance systems.
The geometric control system extracts typical cross sections from the initial architectural prototype and uses these as layout paths to generate spatial arcs, forming the basic control surfaces. Structural components such as mega-columns, inclined supports, waist trusses, and composite floors are precisely controlled based on these surfaces. This close collaboration between architects and engineers ensures the building’s styling requirements and structural safety are simultaneously met.
Figure 6: China Zun Structural System Generated via Geometric Control System
Typical BIM Applications in Mechanical and Electrical Design:
As a super-tall and large-scale building, the mechanical and electrical (M&E) systems have unique characteristics. Equipment floors are placed between vertical zones for centralized mechanical and electrical installations. The basement houses numerous core M&E rooms. The M&E design divides roughly into three parts: basement core systems, vertical M&E within the core tube, and standard office floor M&E.
Challenges include multiple core computer rooms, limited floor-to-floor heights, strict net height constraints, and complex overlapping pipelines.
Using Autodesk Revit as the BIM platform, M&E information is updated in real time, allowing the model to reflect current system conditions and enabling comprehensive M&E coordination. On the complex B007 floor, despite low ceiling heights, careful pipeline arrangement allowed for installation and operation of all systems while creating additional warehouse space, maximizing project value for the owner.
Figure 7: B007 Floor Electromechanical Integration Progress
Typical BIM Applications in Special Consultant Work:
The project team engaged numerous top-tier consulting firms who extensively employed BIM technology to ensure the project’s success.
Fire safety consultants used Autodesk Revit to simulate smoke flow and occupant evacuation in key building areas such as the first-floor lobby and standard office floors, evaluating the tower’s safety performance theoretically. They analyzed evacuation scenarios under different fire levels and developed targeted elevator operation strategies for emergencies.
“China Respect” sets high standards for green and energy-efficient design. Energy consultants used Autodesk Ecotect Analysis to evaluate sunlight exposure across office zones, proposing indoor lighting optimizations and facade shading strategies. Cooling tower performance analyses ensured design effectiveness. Airflow simulations for spaces like lobbies and observation decks enhanced HVAC comfort.
Figure 8: Smoke Simulation for First Floor Lobby Fire
The BIM implementation enhanced multi-team collaboration, bringing comprehensive oversight and foresight to the entire project process.
Summary
- The unprecedented attention from owners has greatly accelerated BIM adoption throughout the project.
- All project stakeholders implemented systematic BIM plans, both globally and locally, enabling effective management of this complex, large-scale construction.
- Multi-team collaboration has improved, promoting early coordination and integration of tasks across project stages, adding comprehensiveness and foresight to project execution.
- Architectural design has expanded beyond delivering construction drawings to include control over construction and operational processes.
- Adopting an industrialized product delivery model, architectural design now integrates information directly to owners, transforming traditional “build from drawings” into “build and operate from models.”
- The BIM-first design process allows deeper early-stage design exploration compared to traditional methods, facilitating interdisciplinary coordination and design refinement.
- Effective data processing underpins BIM success. By extracting and structuring BIM model data, a project database is created. Data unsuitable for direct BIM model storage (e.g., room practices) links to the BIM model, forming a fast, queryable project BIM database.
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