Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM), which has been active in China for more than 20 years, continues to shape the skylines of rapidly growing cities around the country. In the north-central city of Zhengzhou, in Henan Province, the firm recently completed a partially hollow, 60-story, mixed-use tower with a glass-enclosed roof. The 280-meter-tall structure, which opened to office tenants in fall 2012, is the tallest building in the city.
Named Zhengzhou Greenland Plaza, the office and hotel tower is located on a small peninsula at the edge of a man-made lake and is next to a performing arts center, a large convention center, and a park. Its cylindrical form is a nod to the city’s master plan, which calls for a series of arcs radiating out from the tower in the middle. “This tower is the centerpiece for a whole new city,” says Ross Wimer, the design director in SOM’s Chicago office who was in charge of the project.
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