A recent article explores how KPF’s design for TP-Link’s new Shenzhen workplace centers on the theme of connectivity, addressing the problem of corporate siloization with collaborative workspaces.
The 30-story tower, located in the city’s High-Tech Industrial Park, features a dramatic full-height atrium with undulating balconies and bridges that “encourage collaboration between the traditionally divided engineering and design departments while maximizing daylight and natural ventilation,” KPF Principal Marianne Kwok explains. “There are many different sides to any technology company, and they all have unique programmatic demands. Here, there are floor plates that can be used by any division, and, through design, a culture of being familiar with who you are working with.” The building’s flexible, column-free spaces and dynamic central atrium are designed to foster intellectual cross-pollination and spontaneous encounters between employees.
The building is composed of two volumes clad in glass, terra cotta, and perforated metal, which are joined by the glazed atrium. Carefully configured to optimize sun exposure and reduce glare, the atrium’s balconies and bridges provide spaces for collaboration while also serving as structural diaphragms and fire egress points. The building also incorporates passive ventilation strategies, with operable windows behind perforated metal soffits providing cross ventilation, and the unconditioned atrium dramatically reducing energy demand. As Marianne says, the workplace “facilitates and embodies the company’s goal to create quality innovative products that connect people.”
Read the full article in Architectural Record here.
