The Oriental Financial Centre, a 30-story, mixed-use office building in Shanghai, utilizes a unique courtyard concept to create a more sustainable structure for the city.
The building is located in the central area of LuJiaZui, bounded on the east by LanNiDu Road, on the south by DongNing Road, and facing water on its other sides. The ground floor’s entry is approached through a series of exterior spaces sheltered and overlooked by the building’s transparent first floor. This entry sequence presents visitors with a view of the building’s structure and function, and moderates between public and private, appropriately serving as entry point for both the offices above and the retail space below. Offices occupy the ground floor to the 30th floor, with two “sun gaps” on the 18th and 27th floor that allow light to penetrate more deeply into the column of open-air interior space in the building. The first two below-ground levels house retail space and the following two floors are reserved for parking and MEP.
KPF’s Oriental Financial Centre models the high-rise typology after an open-air courtyard that provides ample light, air, and water. The challenge is to adapt a traditionally low-rise plan typology to a modern high-rise building while simultaneously integrating architectural, structural, mechanical, environmental, and safety systems in a rational and efficient way. The cost of implementing sustainable elements in the design is offset by the increased rentable floor area efficiency of the multiple-core design. This provides a financial mechanism which allows a traditional office developer to pursue an environmental agenda.
