Shenzhen Stock Exchange Headquarters, OMA Tower China, Architect, Offices Photos

Shenzhen Stock Exchange HQ

SZSE Headquarters Office in China design by OMA

8 Oct 2013

New photographs of The Shenzhen Stock Exchange – SZSE – designed by OMA:

OMA completes the Shenzhen Stock Exchange HQ in China

photos courtesy of OMA ; photography by Philippe Ruault

Shenzhen Stock Exchange Building

Shenzhen, 8 October 2013 – The new headquarters for the Shenzhen Stock Exchange (SZSE) has been completed in Shenzhen’s Central Business District. The 180,000 m2 building is OMA’s next completed building in China after the CCTV Headquarters in Beijing.

Defying the conventional building typology of tower-on-podium, SZSE’s three-storey base is cantilevered 36m above the ground, allowing for a generous public space below and a lush roof garden on top. The raised podium contains the listing hall and offices of the Stock Exchange; in its elevated position, it can “broadcast” the activities of the stock market to the entire city.

While the generic square form of the tower blends in with the surrounding homogenous buildings, the façade of SZSE is differentiated through its materiality: a translucent layer of patterned glass wraps the tower grid and raised podium, rendering the façade mysterious and enigmatic, while revealing the construction behind. The façade changes continually with the weather, becoming a reflection of its environment.

photos courtesy of OMA ; photography by Philippe Ruault

The SZSE project was led by OMA partners Rem Koolhaas and David Gianotten, and associate Michael Kokora, in collaboration with partners Ellen van Loon and Shohei Shigematsu.

Rem Koolhaas: “The Shenzhen Stock Exchange embodies the Pearl River Delta’s phenomenal transformation over the past thirty years. We are greatly excited about the building from an architectural standpoint, but I believe its true significance emerges when viewed in an economic, political, and ultimately social context. We are immensely honoured to contribute to Shenzhen’s 21st century landscape.”

photos courtesy of OMA ; photography by Philippe Ruault

David Gianotten: “It is exciting to see OMA’s extensive research on Shenzhen materialize as a building in the city. The experience of building in Shenzhen further informs our vision for the future of the city. SZSE has a simple and powerful concept – it transcends a generic form into an innovative prospect through the simple gesture of lifting the podium.”

Michael Kokora: “For our team, it is a very special moment to see the building begin to engage the city at multiple scales. We hope that future buildings in the city will react to the building and new forms of architecture and urbanism will emerge and engage the public.”

photos courtesy of OMA ; photography by Philippe Ruault

Construction was overseen by OMA Asia’s Hong Kong office and OMA’s on-site office in Shenzhen, working day-to-day with the client and contractors throughout the construction process. OMA’s team consisted of over 75 architects at various points in the design and construction phases.

SZSE was developed in collaboration with the local design institute SADI, and consultants DHV, Inside Outside, L&B and Arup. OMA won the competition for SZSE in 2006 and construction began in October 2008. OMA is currently designing a number of other buildings in China, including the Tencent Headquarters in Beijing and the Prince Bay Masterplan in Shenzhen.

23 May 2013

Shenzhen Stock Exchange News

New photos + images of The Shenzhen Stock Exchange – SZSE – designed by OMA:

Although aspects of this building look perfectly normal – the straight tower, the repetitive fenestration – look at the podium, it has been jacked 36m above ground level. Why? The architects put forward their case which seems based on challenging tradition, “defying an architectural convention” but also on trying to ‘broadcast’ the virtual activities of the city’s financial market by being more visible, ‘glowing at night’. The raised podium also liberates the ground level and creates a generous public space. Is this a successful attack on the architectural tradition of the office tower?

Shenzhen Stock Exchange Building

The essence of the stock market is speculation: it is based on capital, not material. The Shenzhen Stock Exchange is conceived as a physical materialization of the virtual stock market: it is a building with a floating base, representing the stock market – more than physically accommodating it.

Typically, the base of a building anchors a structure and connects it emphatically to the ground. In the case of Shenzhen Stock Exchange, the base, as if lifted by the same speculative euphoria that drives the market, has crept up the tower to become a raised podium, defying an architectural convention that has survived millennia into modernity: a solid building standing on a solid base.

image courtesy of OMA ; photography by Philippe Ruault