China’s State Grid Co (CCSG), the world’s largest electric utility company, plans to build a northern headquarters campus to house customer service, data centers, call centers, R&D and IT development, and training centers. The project is located at Dongli lake near Tianjin’s international airport. The site has two neighboring land parcels in an overall fan shape of 71 acres. The total building area is about 238,000 square meters above grade.

We select the smaller and more accessible land parcel adjacent to the lake to place functions such as new product exhibit, housing, and entertainment; and place other functions in the larger and more inland parcel. Establishing an axis with two circular plazas at each end, our design scheme binds various building blocks on two land parcels into one. The two centrifugal rings are strong nuclei for each parcel. They complement and reinforce each other. Individual functions are organized efficiently. Like airport terminal concourse, the two rings ensure the independence of individual components and foster interrelations among them. This 1-axis 2-ring structure affords the shortest travel route from entry to exit on a mega-sized corporate campus. The diamond-shaped floor plate of typical functional units is designed to have an internal courtyard, create other courtyards with its neighboring units, and finally open up to the green landscape beyond.

A sequence of spatial experiences starts from the strong circular entrance plaza to the individual intimate courtyard and ends with an open vista. This spatial experience dwells in the ideal of unity, cooperation, and progressiveness, which embodies the corporate culture of CCSG and the city of Tianjin.

Architecturally, each building block is carefully designed to work with the master plan. In addition, various ways of sustainable design features are used in the project, including green roofs, rainwater harvesting, natural ventilation, and alternative energy source.

The second-largest bank in the world, China Construction Bank (CCB), plans to build one of the world’s largest disaster relief centers in the outskirt of Beijing. It consists of six large data centers, two call centers, and several auxiliary buildings, with an overall gross building area of about 300,000 square meters. The campus master plan has a clear symmetry and clarity. It efficiently organizes different buildings, separating front-of-house functions of the office, IT support, conference center, R&D from back-of-house functions of data centers and their operations.

The two call centers with high circulation volume have independent entrances with dedicated safety and security system. The water feature in the circular plaza has a cleverly embedded CCB logo. It also serves to rotate the building axes by 90 degrees. The overall design is contemporarily high tech and high class.

China Central Place
Beijing, PRC

China Central Place, known as the Hua Mao Zhong Xin, opened in 2007. The 1,000,000 m2 mixed use complex is located in Beijing’s CBD. Designed by the international architecture firm of Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates (KPF), the master plan includes residential, retail, two hotels operated by Ritz Carlton and JW Marriott, and the offices of 70 industry-leading multinationals, including Deutsche Bank. The site is located on Chang’an Boulevard, Beijing’s primary east-west axis. The architecture of China Central Place was designed by KPF as a striking composition of diagonally faceted glass volumes whose appearance is softened at the lowest five stories by terra cotta screens. Within the site, the component buildings define two major public parks of over two hectares each. OPC built up a team to manage sales, planning, customer service and research to position and assure adherence to the master plan and market suitability. In addition, it set up the successful sales systems, and participated in bringing on board.

International Crystal Plaza
Hohhot CBD, Inner Mongolia, PRC

A local development company, with King Deer, a national fashion company as their partner, has been selected to develop the first iconic commercial project in the newly relocated Central Business District (CBD) of Hohhot, the capital of Inner Mongolia. A design concept using faceted “crystals” was developed to reflect the local climate and the new economic culture related to coal and mineral resources. The project will be 4 million square feet and includes office buildings, a regional shopping/ entertainment mall, a 5 Star Hotel and Conference Center, 3 luxury residential towers and 3 levels of underground parking. The project is currently in the approval phase and is scheduled to start construction in the summer of 2012.

WQB Architecture designed additions to an existing historical building at 305 2^nd Ave and combinations of apartments as redesigned for changes in the market place to combine eight small apartments into four larger luxury condominiums.

21 Water Street – Sag Harbor
New York, New York

During 2008 an international development group failed to complete the construction of 25 super luxury loft condominiums facing the Long Island Sound in Sag Harbor. Amalgamated Bank, an investor and lender, was forced into a foreclosure preceeding. During the preceeding, the building sustained substantial weather damage and deterioration. WQB Architecture was hired by Amalgamated to restructure the project, complete construction, cure code and construction deficiencies and work with Barry Brown Construction to remarket the condominiums. Construction and sales will restart in the Summer of 2012 and should be complete in Second Quarter 2013.

The Haitian Congregation of the Newark Church of the Good Shepherd of the Church of the Nazarene, (L’ Eglise de Bon Berger) has determined to establish a new sanctuary and community facilities at their existing site. The work anticipates construction of 90 affordable apartments and a new eight story building. WQB Architecture provided preliminary designs and zoning analysis and has represented the Pastor and the Congregation with the Economic Development Cooperation and Mayor’s Office in Newark. 

Hudson Mews
Housing Development
New York, New York

The plan for the 800,000 SF Hudson Mews housing development incorporates the irregular undeveloped frontage along the west side of Ninth Avenue in Manhattan, combined with the development rights of the Dyer Avenue access to the Lincoln Tunnel, to create a group of new buildings in a park-like setting as envisioned in the proposed Hudson Yards/Far West Side Development Plan. The current plan provides for at least three new 20-story buildings of approximately 200,000 SF each, with more than 800 apartments per tower and first-floor retail spaces. The buildings will include luxury rentals with a range of amenities. The first two buildings on the Ninth Avenue side will provide 112 luxury condominiums, with retail along the avenue. The building’s foundation will be anchored by existing traffic islands with connecting deck spanning the tunnel entrance which will create a new public park extending from West 39th Street to south 36th Street, serving the residents and the surrounding community. It is anticipated that the initial phases of development will become one of the first of the new Far West Side Development Plan.