Located at the intersection of Guiyang’s cultural and commercial axis, and aligned with the civic area of Zhucheng Square, the Guiyang Cultural Plaza (GCP) Tower is strategically positioned to anchor and catalyze future development. At 521 meters tall, it will be the tallest tower in Guiyang, accommodating office and hotel use, and providing a dramatic public observation deck.
As the centerpiece of the Guizhou Culture Plaza Riverfront Mixed-Use Plan, a 1.4-million-square-meter development also designed by SOM, the tower will be accompanied by a large riverfront mixed-use complex. This includes the SOM-designed Hebin Theater Performing Arts Center, two SOHO (live-work prototype) towers, a retail mall, and several residential towers—all of which will be linked directly to local and regional transportation networks.
Guiyang’s unique climatic and geographic features inspired the innovative design of the tower, which furthers the evolution of mixed-use supertall buildings. Capturing the most efficient performance attributes of two of SOM’s legacy structural systems—the tapered diagonal braced tube used in the John Hancock Center and the stepped superframe system conceived by Fazlur Khan—the tower offers superior structural performance with stability and resistance to wind and seismic forces. Meanwhile, the clarity in structural form—a direct response to the challenging constraints of the site—creates a distinctive performance-based expression that characterizes SOM’s holistic, integrated design approach.?
Working collaboratively and with a high level of BIM (Building Information Modeling) coordination during the conceptual design phase, SOM’s multidisciplinary team crafted a building that is unique to Guiyang. The GCP Tower integrates pedestrian pathways and public open space, engages the historic context along with existing civic structures and mountainous topography, and meets the specific programmatic needs in vertical form. As the city’s first truly iconic building, it stands to be an enduring symbol that unites Guiyang’s historic and natural setting with its aspirations for the future.
