Kohn Pedersen Fox has completed a 400-metre-high supertall skyscraper as the headquarters of the China Resources export company in Shenzhen, China.
The 67-storey tower, which Kohn Pedersen Fox (KPF) describes as "inspired by the shape of the winter bamboo shoot", is the third tallest building in the rapidly developing city.
Named China Resources Headquarters, the skyscraper is located in the Houhai district of Shenzhen, a city that is already home to the world's fourth tallest building – the recently completed 599-metre-high Ping An Finance Centre, also designed by KPF.
The world's second tallest building is also under construction in the city.
The tapered China Resources tower is ringed with 56 prefabricated slender steel columns that allow the building's office floors to be column-free.
At the top and base of the building, the columns converge into a diagrid – a diagonal grid pattern – similar to that used in the Gherkin in London, designed by Foster + Partners.
Following the diagrid, 28 columns continue to the building's apex to enclose a 68.4-metre-high "sky hall", which will be used as an events space. At the building's base, entrance portals are placed within the triangular forms.
"The conical tower design shows a geometric boldness that reflects China Resources' pride in their past and confidence in the future," said KPF president James von Klemperer.
"By marking the skyline, it will be one of the most recognisable buildings of Shenzhen, China's leading technology city."
The skyscraper is located in Shenzhen Bay in the western part of the city. It is the anchor building in a larger development being designed by KPF, which includes a pavilion containing shops, a 3,000 square-metre museum, a performance hall and an auditorium, along with 2,000 square metres of public space.
KPF has designed four of the 10 tallest buildings in the world.
Along with the Ping An Finance Centre, the firm recently completed the 555-metre tall Lotte World Tower in South Korea, the 530-metre high CTF Finance Centre in Guangzhou and is currently building the CITIC Tower in Beijing.
Photography is courtesy of Kohn Pedersen Fox.