Four Towers in One Competition / Morphosis

Morphosis Architects

Morphosis just shared with us their proposal for the Four Towers in One Competition.  The competition (which Steven Holl Architects ultimately won) asked participants to design an office tower complex for the new Shenzhen Stock Exchange Headquarters in the Futian commercial business district.  The area was in need of a unified urban plan that would include the Headquarters for the new office towers of Shenzhen Media Group, China Construction Bank, China Insurance Group, and Southern & Bosera Funds.  For Morphosis’ proposal, rather than creating various disconnected vertical skyscrapers, the project aims to create one “cohesive, interwoven district.”  By conceiving the sites as 3-dimensional envelopes rather than flat 2-dimensional footprints, the buildings can be interwoven to “facilitate a network of interlocking forms reminiscent of the venerated Chinese puzzle.”
More images and further project description after the break.

Morphosis Architects

“In response to the interconnectedness of the new global city, Four Towers in One re-conceives the conventional urban grid as a dynamic, multi-dimensional organization, or armature, able to support the complex systems that define contemporary urban life,” explained the architects.
The tower is designed to become rooted in a new urban fabric that fluidly connects other built forms and civic spaces.  Each tower does not have its own identity but rather together, the towers create a scheme that includes the entire Financial District as a new type of icon,  “a district with its own unique character amidst the greater city of Shenzhen.”  The result of this strategy is “a holistic scheme that is greater than the sum of its parts-where integration and collaboration create enormous pragmatic and symbolic potential for all stakeholders.”

Morphosis Architects

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Morphosis Architects

Morphosis Architects

Morphosis Architects

Morphosis Architects