Zaha Hadid Architects (ZHA) recently announced their victory in the competition to design the “C Tower” at the Shenzhen Bay Super Headquarters Base. This site serves as a major commercial and financial hub for the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area. As a global technology center, it accommodates up to 300,000 employees daily. The “C Tower” will function as a multifunctional venue for international conferences, exhibitions, and cultural events, complementing other headquarters buildings within the base. The base itself integrates residential areas, transit hubs, green spaces, and coastal wetlands.
Situated at the crossroads of the north-south green axis and the east-west urban corridor in Shenzhen’s city plan, the “C Tower” project by Zaha Hadid Architects connects directly to adjacent parks and plazas. Between its two towers, a stepped landscape terrace invites the public to engage with cultural and entertainment activities held along a continuous corridor bridge. This bridge serves as a link between the towers and offers panoramic views of the city skyline.
The extensive Shenzhen subway network extends to this location, integrating tower-like podiums with nearby parks to create new public spaces. The stepped terraces not only provide direct pedestrian access but also allow natural light to reach the underground transit hub. Prioritizing pedestrians, the design includes numerous bicycle parking spots and electric charging stations to promote sustainable transportation.
Utilizing advanced 3D modeling tools, Zaha Hadid Architects optimized the building’s massing, orientation, and façade-to-floor ratio. The result is a “multidimensional vertical city” composed of two towers reaching nearly 400 meters (1,312 feet) in height. The building offers column-free office spaces with abundant natural light, shopping centers, entertainment and dining venues, hotels, conference facilities, and cultural spaces designed for galleries and exhibitions.
From an environmental standpoint, the tower features double-layered insulation and a unified glass curtain wall that forms vertical shading pipes along the stepped façade. These pipes incorporate ventilation ports that regulate airflow, allowing fresh air to enter the building through adjustable ducts. This design enables real-time environmental control to reduce energy consumption. Additionally, compound aquaculture gardens on every floor terrace perform biological filtration to purify local pollutants.
Project Information:
Project Name: Shenzhen Bay Super Headquarters Base “C Tower”
Location: Shenzhen, China
Project Team:
Design Company: Zaha Hadid Architects
General Manager: Patrik Schumacher
ZHA Competition Project Managers: Satoshi Ohashi, Paolo Flores
ZHA Competition Project Assistants: Jingwen Yang, Karoly Markos, Michelle Desyllas
ZHA Competition Project Creator: Xuexin Duan
Additional Team Members: Xiaoyu Zhang, Lida Zhang, Bogdan Zaha, Gaoqi Lou, Huiyuan Li, Jiaxing Lu, Leyuan Jiang, Mariana Custodio dos Santos, Martin Gsandtner, Nastasja Mitrovic, Rui Zhao, Sebastian Andia, Xiangfan Chen, Yuan Feng, Zhiming Wang, Boyan Hristov, John Kanakas, Enoch Kolo, Karina Linsen
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