At a gala this evening in Hong Kong, five SOM projects received 2014 MIPIM Asia Awards, prestigious accolades that recognize excellence in real estate development. Gold awards were given to Pertamina Energy Tower and Wuhan Jiang’an Riverfront Business District, while Silver awards were bestowed upon China Merchants Tower & Woods Park, Kunming Junfa Dongfeng Square, and Pluit City Master Plan. The winners were honored during a ceremony at the Grand Hyatt Hotel.
Pertamina Energy Tower is the dramatic centerpiece of a new consolidated headquarters created for an Indonesian state-owned energy company. When completed, it will rise more than 500 meters above Jakarta as a stunning new landmark on the capital’s skyline. Complemented by a performing arts and exhibition pavilion, a mosque, and a central energy plant, the 99-story “beacon of energy” will represent a new standard for sustainable development, bringing together 20,000 employees on the innovative, dynamic campus. The ambitious project is the world’s first supertall tower for which energy is the primary design driver.
The Wuhan Jiang’an Riverfront Business District master plan establishes an expanded vision for sustainable development along the Yangtze River. Situated on a former railyard and factory site in Wuhan, China, the brownfield redevelopment incorporates industrial heritage and historic monuments into a reimagined urban fabric, most notably a nod to the historic railway worker’s uprising in 1923 that led to the formation of China’s dominant political party today. The completion of the development’s landmark building — dubbed the Erqi or 2-7 Tower — could be timed to coincide with the 100-year anniversary of that watershed moment. In addition to recalling local history, the project will also offer a mixed-use, transit-oriented approach to urban redevelopment in China.
China Merchants Tower & Woods Park adds 103,000 square meters of new office and retail space to Shenzhen’s Nanshan District. The tower’s bowed and tapered form allows lower floors to slope away from the sun, decreasing the amount of solar radiation that strikes the exterior wall. The shape also distributes exterior notches that support balconies, giving tenants access to the outdoors on each level. Notches on each floor double the number of corner offices that would be possible in a traditional rectilinear tower. The building’s low-E, unitized glass curtain wall and horizontal glass fins also help to reduce solar gain. Aesthetically, the fins refract light at night and work in conjunction with the top of the tower — its signature element — to illuminate the form, making the building read as a beacon across Shenzhen.
The Kunming Junfa Dongfeng Square mixed-use development consists of a 456-meter office and hotel tower and a 250-meter residential tower. The design takes full advantage of its dramatic location at the heart of Kunming, a burgeoning metropolis, and optimizes the site’s prevailing views, predominant wind direction, and environmental performance factors. The main tower integrates natural ventilation for its offices through level 75, capitalizing on the city’s mild climate and good air quality. Stacked chimneys collect the exhaust from three floors and extend an additional three floors in height to create vertically driven pressures across each stack. This buoyancy driven airflow removes heat generated by office occupant loads and solar gains to provide year-round free cooling.
The Pluit City Master Plan spans 450 hectares of reclaimed land on two new islands on the north coast of Jakarta, Indonesia. These islands are the first of a unique “archipelago” city district to be built in the historic Jakarta Bay. SOM’s master plan offers an affordable housing solution for Jakarta’s swiftly swelling population while also helping to protect against sea level rise and severe storm surges that threaten millions of the city’s residents. The new community will be comprised of residential, retail, and office development across a range of densities and types. Residents will be able to enjoy the sea island lifestyle imparted by the plan, as well as convenient connections to Jakarta’s central business district and international airport.
About Skidmore, Owings & Merrill LLP
Skidmore, Owings & Merrill LLP (SOM) is one of the leading architecture, interior design, engineering, and urban planning firms in the world, with a 75-year reputation for design excellence and a portfolio that includes some of the most important architectural accomplishments of the 20th and 21st centuries. Since its inception, SOM has been a leader in the research and development of specialized technologies, new processes and innovative ideas, many of which have had a palpable and lasting impact on the design profession and the physical environment. The firm’s longstanding leadership in design and building technology has been honored with more than 1,700 awards for quality, innovation, and management. The American Institute of Architects has recognized SOM twice with its highest honor, the Architecture Firm Award — in 1962 and again in 1996. The firm maintains offices in New York, Chicago, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Washington, D.C., London, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Mumbai, and Abu Dhabi.