In addition to offices and facilities for the company’s staff, the center contains apartments and a hotel above ground and a conference center, spa, and parking underground. Li explains, “The design is not specific to the program. The building is a flexible armature and can be changed in the future.” Still, he set specific programs into the structure. He wanted to position the company dining room on the top floor so employees could enjoy the view of the ocean. Vanke accepted this idea, as well as many other design proposals.

Vanke Center uses renewable bamboo, recycled carpeting, PVC-free fabrics, and low-flow plumbing fixtures as parts of its sustainable-design strategy. Special coatings on its glass windows work together with aluminum louvers to reduce solar heat gain. A gray-water processing plant, roof garden, cooling pond, geothermal wells, and 1,400 square meters of photovoltaic panels all work to reduce the building’s dependence on outside sources of energy. Sunken gardens, courtyards, ponds, permeable pavement, and restored wetlands function collectively as a bioswale that filters, aerates, and irrigates the landscape.

Li thinks these green design features should go without saying, “Why should we talk about the building being green? These are fundamentals. They should be included in the building code.” But until that’s the case, Vanke Center shows that green design need not be applied to buildings but rather can be integrated with the core values and identity of a growing business.