A new tower in Shenzhen features impressive multi-level vertical courts

Rocco Design Architects, a Chinese architectural firm based in Hong Kong, completed in Futian, the business district of Shenzhen, Essence Financial Securities. The 193.5-meter-tall tower is developed as a vertical neighborhood and hosts two separate headquarters offices, financial trading halls, and commercial office space. At the base, there is a low volume clad in green walls and topped by a public roof, while sky bridges link the tower to nearby buildings.

The structure features triple- and septuple-height communal courtyards rising through the floors. These voids, at the center of the floor plates, visually interconnect the spaces, creating a cohesive atmosphere, improving natural light, and generating a chimney effect, which enhances ventilation and passive temperature regulation.

To obtain these openings the firm uses a twin-side core and an exoskeleton reinforced by horizontal trusses, in order to free the center of the volume from structural elements, making possible every possible cut.