Tall & Urban News

Zaha Hadid Architects has won a competition to design and build the new Shanghai headquarters of the China Energy Conservation and Environmental Protection Group (CECEP). The 218,000 square meter project will contain numerous sustainability features into every aspect of its design and construction to achieve more than 90 credits in China’s exacting Three Star Green Building Rating system.

The design of the new HQ, located next to the Yangpu Bridge on the Huangpu River, considers its riverfront site and responds to the history and dynamism of Shanghai. The campus consists of three office towers, shopping, dining and leisure facilities connected by a park that acts as a buffer between the mixed-use complex and the city.

The green approach to the design echoes CECEP's culture as a company that initiates and funds projects with a focus on renewable energy technologies, such as solar, hydroelectric, and wind power generation; environmental conservation initiatives such as water collection, treatment, and recycling; as well as developing innovations to reduce energy consumption and emissions throughout the construction industry. 

The project features thermal mass integrated into every building that provides reductions in both heating and cooling consumption, using mostly recycled materials reducing the project's embodied carbon. Photovoltaics placed on the roof level and within the façades provide on-site energy production decreasing its consumption by 25 percent while the thermal ice-storage for cooling significantly lowers peak daytime electrical consumption when the cooling load is highest. The intelligent building management system, along with tracking internal building conditions, will be able to predict and optimize energy usage.

For more on this story, go to Arch Daily and Zaha Hadid.