The commencement ceremony of Suzhou Zhongnan Center (SZC, 苏州中南中心) was held yesterday. SZC is expected to reach a record high of 499.15 meters, nearly 50 meters higher than the city’s current tallest building, the 450m International Finance Center.
SZC is situated in the Jinji Lake CBD in SIP, adjacent to Suzhou Center.
Rendering
A top-notch architectural design team
Zhongnan Group (中南集团) is SZC’s investor and Gensler is the author of its construction plan. Some world-renowned companies such as Thornton Tomasetti, WSP, ALT, BPI and RWDI were invited to design the building structure, mechanical and electrical equipment, curtain wall, lighting system, wind tunnel, etc. respectively.
A number of top class domestic architectural designers including East China Architectural Design & Research Institute (ECADI), Tongji Architectural Design (TJAD), Tus-Design and Shanghai Puspace Architectural Design were also invited to further optimize the plan.
Construction of “vertical garden city” to kick off later this year
Suzhou Zhongnan Center measures 499.15 meters in height and covers a floorage of nearly 508,000 sq. m.
Based on “vertical garden city” as its core design philosophy, the construction plan drew its inspiration from the conventional structural form and craftsmanship contained in the traditional culture of Suzhou.
The whole building is featured by a modern minimalism style as well as local cultural characteristics. The top of SZC takes the shape of osmanthus, the city flower of Suzhou.
Through an open attitude, SZC perfectly fits into the city’s culture and its surroundings in an elegant and friendly way, echoing the Suzhou Center area at a distance.
The upright and foursquare tower has erect and straight contour lines that also zigzag slightly, just like the rippling Jinji Lake.The tower appears upright and simple if you look from a far, but when you come closer, you will find rich details on it.
According to Zhongnan Group, the project is planned to be completed in about five and a half years. Upon completion the Suzhou Zhongnan Center building will become one of the iconicsky scrapers in East China.
