Hard shell – soft core

schneider+schumacher has won first prize in a competition for the new headquarters of a subsidiary company of China Merchants Bank and China Unicom. The design of the 180-metre high office tower in Shenzhen is not based on a conventional structure, and was thus able to convince the competition jury. A young company like MUCFC needs modern and communicative office space, not isolated individual offices. While the outer shell appears to be almost austere, and rectilinear, the interior design uses organic forms, reflecting the dynamic of office interactions. The atrium and the open spatial arrangement above it create vistas across, enabling communication across several levels, which helps to animate the building interior. The principle employed here is: hard shell – soft core.