Tall & Urban News

Nestled in the heart of Yuhang District, Bjarke Ingels Group’s design for the new OPPO R&D Headquarters, China’s largest smartphone company, combines aesthetics and innovative technology in a building that will be an environmental, economical, and socially sustainable hub for innovation.

The headquarters, named O-Tower, sits between a natural lake, an urban center, and a 10,000-square-meter park, serving as an anchor point and new gateway to Hangzhou’s Future Sci-Tech City. In addition to it being a technological hub, Hangzhou is also a touristic attraction, housing three of the world’s 57 UNESCO Heritage sites. The architecture studio translated the company's "endless innovation in the pursuit of perfection" with a master plan that balances the city's dense fabric and natural landscape, combined with technological artistry.

The award-winning architecture firm reimagined traditional office slabs and optimized the company's dynamic workspaces by creating a cylindrical courtyard building with compact yet flexible floor plans. To maximize the solar exposure and provide panoramic views of the city, the southern edge of the building was pushed downwards. This unique geometry allowed it to become self-shaded, reducing energy consumption and maximizing natural daylight, which in return, promotes employee well-being and productivity.

Beneath the sloping roof, triple-height voids and connected terraces with biophilia were implemented to provide visual and physical connectivity between floors. These in-between spaces, which are visible from the outside, bring out human interaction and animate the façade. The façades are wrapped with adaptive louvers that are oriented with respect to the sun's positioning. They will provide an imprint exclusive for the O-Tower and Hangzhou, reducing solar gain by up to 52 percent, and providing significant savings for cooling loads, all while reducing glare, reflectivity, and light pollution.

At the heart of the O-Tower, a publicly accessible courtyard will become an urban attraction for the city, blurring the boundaries between public and private architecture. The ground floor at its center transforms into a lush landscape and extends out to the waterfront. This interconnected public space will guide visitors and employees towards lobbies, exhibition spaces, or out to the park. 

A series of flexible floor plates within the architecture will be reserved for different functional programming but will integrate workspaces with biophilia and social spaces throughout the entire architecture. The first three floors will be dedicated to the public, with an exhibition space, conference centers, and an incubator for external workshops. The middle floors will vary between spacious and large floors for R&D departments and special projects, along with smaller ones for administrative and executive programs. And as for the upper floors, an OPPO canteen, as well as executive and VIP lounges, will be situated, overlooking Hangzhou’s wetlands. That same view will be available to all OPPO staff, due to the triple-height interconnected atria under the O-ring façade.

For more on this story, go to Arch Daily.