Architect’s latest huge scheme in the city to rise to 200m in height

Buro Ole Scheeren has unveiled its designs for a twin-tower office scheme in Shenzhen for one of China’s largest online retailers.

The Scenic City scheme will become the new headquarters for USD $153bn turnover firm JD.com and contain two million sq ft of office, retail, hotel and cultural space, with its tallest tower rising to 200m in height.

Scheduled for completion in 2027, it will be located within the Shenzhen Bay Super Headquarters Base, a growing district in the city which will also include a 400m twin tower scheme by Zaha Hadid Architects.

Beneath Ole Scheeren’s towers, a shared podium will house a cultural space called JD World, and several other buildings on the site will form an ‘urban spine’ including a theatre and exhibition space.

Scenic City 1

The scheme consists of three main buildings, with more than two million sq ft of combined floorspace

Vertical louvres on the facade of the towers have been designed to resemble waterfalls, a prominent feature of the southern Chinese Lingnan region which contains Shenzhen and Hong Kong.

The facades open up at intervals to reveal parts of the towers’ interiors, part of a motif of ‘in-between spaces’ in the scheme which Scheeren says allows “life and nature to flowin and out”.

The German-born and Beijing-based architect is also behind a four-tower headquarters in Shenzhen for Tencent, China’s biggest company.

Scheeren beat a host of start names last year to win the job including his former practice OMA, Foster & Partners, Heatherwick Studio, Zaha Hadid Architects and Herzog & de Meuron.

Scenic City 5

Night time view of the scheme in Shenzhen, southern China