GUANGZHOU INTERNATIONAL FINANCE CENTRE

INTRODUCTION

Guangzhou International Finance Centre or Guangzhou West Tower, is a

103-storey, 439 m (1439 ft) skyscraper at Zhujiang Avenue West in the
Tianhe District of Guangzhou, Guangdong, China. It is the 15 th tallest
building in the world. It is a part of the Guangzhou Twin Towers

Being the fourth tallest building in China and the ninth tallest in the world
at the time of its completion, the 439 m-tall tower of Guangzhou
International Finance Centre (aka. The West Tower of the Guangzhou Twin
Towers) was initiated as an international design competition held by the
Guangzhou City Planners in 2004.

As the winning partner with Wilkinson Eyre Architects, Arup was

responsible for the multi-disciplinary engineering for this landmark
building – one of the twin iconic towers along the main axis of Guangzhou
Zhujiang New Town.

ARCHITECTS OF GUANGZHOU INTERNATIONAL FINANCE CENTRE

Chris Wilkinson is the founder of Wilkinson Eyre

Architects, a world-leading architectural firm.
After designing iconic British buildings, he co-
founded Wilkinson Eyre in 1999. The firm is
renowned for projects like the Guangzhou
International Finance Center and has won
numerous international awards.

Wilkinson Eyre was selected in 2004 to design the 440m Guangzhou

International Finance Center following an international design competition.
Conceived as a simple, elegant form the tower marks Guangzhou Zhujiang
New Town’s main axis, which links the commercial district in the north
with the Pearl River to the south. Its triangular plan maximises views of
the Pearl River Delta and responds to the need for efficient internal space
layouts and excellent environmental performance. With 103 storeys, the
tower has a mixture of uses including office space, a luxury hotel and a
top floor sightseeing area. Within the tower, office floors occupy the levels
below the hotel. The main lobby connects via escalators to a secondary
office lobby located at the lower basement level, which in turn allows
access to below ground retail and the subway station. At ground level, the
tower connects with a substantial podium complex containing a retail
mall, conference centre and high quality serviced apartments. Eyre (2013)

OVERVIEW

• Guangzhou International Finance Center is a landmark tower of

China’s third largest city.
• At the time of its completion it was the fourth tallest building in
China and the ninth tallest building in the world.
• Its elegant simplicity belies the complex geometry of form and
structure which makes it possible.
• The tower has a mixture of uses including office space, a luxury
hotel and a top floor observation area.
• The highest point is a helicopter landing pad which hovers over the
central atrium just overhanging the perimeter cladding.

FORM
• Its rounded triangular plan responds to the
need for efficient internal space layouts and
excellent environmental performance. The
tower has a mixture of uses including office
space, a luxury hotel and a top floor
observation area.
• Each of the three façades of the curved
triangular plan are also curved in section with
a radius of 5.1 kilometers (3.17 miles) set out
asymmetrically with the widest point at a third
• The of the height, tapering to its narrowest point at
tower has a triple
the12top.
height m (39 ft)
• Has a radius of 71 m in plan at the widest part
high entrance lobby
and 10 m onbase
corners
which rings the
• the
The plan and
of the building has been designed to
of tower
provide approximately 165,000 sq m
allows secure access
(1,776,045
to the building’ssq ft) of efficient and flexible office
FUNCTION ANALYSIS

• Office floors occupy levels 2 through 67 and a Four Seasons hotel is

on levels 67 through 103.
• The office plates have good usable depths from façade to core
ranging typically from 11–15 meters (36–49 feet) to achieve good
daylight penetration.
• Above level 66 (the highest office floor) is the five-star Four Seasons
hotel. A health club is located at level 67 above which back of house
and kitchen areas have been zoned. The hotel’s main lobby is
located at level 70 and is accessed via shuttle lifts serving directly
from the ground.
TYPICAL OFFICE FLOOR
The plan of the building has been designed to provide
approximately 165,000 sq m (1,776,045 sq ft) of efficient and Flexible
office floor plates

TYPICAL HOTEL FLOOR

Above level 66 (the highest office floor) is the five-star Four Seasons hotel.
A health club is located at level 67 above which back of house and kitchen
areas have been zoned. The hotel’s main lobby is located at level 70 and
is accessed via shuttle lifts serving directly from the ground.

SERVICE CORE
Altogether there are 71 lifts in the building, of which 52 serve the office
floor, 15 serve the hotel and four for the carpark (see Figure 9). A central
triangular core arrangement contains nine double decker high speed lifts
which serve the key refuge floors from which local lifts connect to the
intermediate floors. This system provides fast and convenient access from
the ground floor reception to the individual office floors. Two stairs provide
means of escape and these are lobbied at each refuge floor. Toilets for
each office floor are designed to make use of the vacant spaces between
local lift shafts where they tail off and adequate space has been provided
for vertical services risers.

Through careful planning of the core, an average net to gross ratio of 70%
has been achieved for the office floors and 68.9% over all (see Figure 10).
Flexibility is important and the plan shape works well as a single office let
on each floor or alternatively it divides easily into three distinct areas,
each with its own access to the central core. There is potential for an open
plan layout or for subdivision into cellular spaces served by a corridor
around the circumference of the core.

Eyre at Et. Al (2012)

CLADDING
• Building has smooth glass cladding with glass panels 1.5m wide and
one floor high.
• With 80,000 sqm of area to be covered , glass panels of different
sizes would be difficult.
• 90 % repetition was achieved with 4 standard panel sizes.
• A unitary system of high performance glass is used to maintain
transparency to show the structural system.

STRUCTURAL SYSTEM
• The building utilizes the world’s tallest constructed diagrid
structure which is clearly expressed though the building’s
façade and gives the building considerable character.
• The diagrid members are formed from concrete filled steel
tubes which provide both good stiffness and fire protection
to the structure.
• The tubular diagrid structure “nodes-out” every 12 stories
to form 54 m (177 ft) high giant steel diamonds. At the
base of the tower the structural members are 1800 mm
(70 in) in diameter and reduce in size up the building to
900 mm (35 in) at the top of the building.
 • Inside the exoskeleton of diagrid system, the central core which
serves the office is made in RCC with a climbform system.
• The structural core takes much of the gravity load of the building’s
floors and is linked back to the diagrid perimeter structure via floor
beams to create a stiff “tube- within-a-tube” structural system.
• The inherent stiffness in the structure minimizes steel tonnage while
providing inherent stiffness and resistance to acceleration and sway,
thereby maintaining high comfort levels for the building’s
occupants.
• This stiffness and resistance to acceleration means that no damping
of the structure is required

The diagrid, combined with central core, provides both gravity and lateral
resistance (see Figure 8). It is also a good arrangement for seismic design.
The diagrid system behaves as an external tube which is fully braced, so
that most of the forces are transferred by axial force which makes it more
efficient than a moment type frame. The geometry was also developed for
efficiency and visual appearance, which has resulted in a ‘giant order’ of
diamonds, 54m tall, spanning between twelve office floors and sixteen
hotel floors.

OTHER SYSTEM INVOLVED

Diagrid structural system
  The IFC’s diagrid structure is the world’s tallest constructed diagrid
structure. The diagrid is made of concrete-filled steel tubes that
provide stiffness and fire protection.
 The diagrid structure’s stiffness reduces the amount of steel needed
and helps the building resist acceleration and sway.

Building management system (BMU)

 The BMU includes a large capacity hoist that can replace glass.
 The BMU also has an articulated extension that provides access to
the roof helipad.

Solar shading system

 The IFC uses blinds to block and absorb direct solar heat gain.
 The blinds trap heat before it reaches the occupied space.
REFERENCES:

• https://www.archdaily.com/356679/ifc-guangzhou-wilkinson-eyre-
architects
• http://global.ctbuh.org/resources/papers/download/ 969-guangzhou-
finance-centre-an-elegant- simplicity-of-form.pdf
• http://www.ctbuh.org/TallBuildings/FeaturedTallBuil
dings/FeaturedTallBuildingArchive2011/Guangzhou
InternationalFinanceCenterGuangzhou/tabid/3417/l anguage/en-
US/Default.aspx
• http://www.wilkinsoneyre.com/projects/guangzhou- international-
finance-center