Poly International Plaza’s two tall, slender towers set along the Pearl River in Guangzhou, China, belay the complex considerations addressed by the highly integrated structural design. In addition to seismic risk, the industrial city is prone to typhoon winds. Furthermore, the region’s hot tropical climate was at odds with the natural impetus to capture the site’s dramatic riverfront views.

At this location, Poly Real Estate Company sought to create an innovative Class A office and trade center development in the new Pazhou Commercial District. Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM) combined two, 35-story office towers with a low-rise (three-story) podium, below-grade space, and an expansive landscaped base to develop a mixed-use project with retail, parking, and exhibition spaces. Developed on a 57,565-square-meter (sm) site, the project is bounded by the Pearl River on the north, Ke Yun Road on the east, and a Shangri-La hotel on the west. The towers, which contain 108,920 sm of office space, occupy the northeast and southwest corners of the site. The podium and basements contain 18,586 sm of retail space and 49,741 sm of parking and exhibition space.

Collaboration with the design team led to a unique structural design that incorporates diagonal mega-braces in the buildings’ south façades to resist load in both primary building directions. These mega-braces allow for column-free office floor plates with high floor-to-ceiling heights and expansive views while shielding the structure from the intense sunlight. At 161.4 meters in height, the exceptionally slender towers, each with an aspect ratio exceeding 8 to 1 (ratio of height to least structural plan width), achieve a high level of structural efficiency and sustainability.

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