Posted: Monday, January 23, 2012 10:53 am

Skidmore, Owings & Merrill LLP's (SOM) Chicago wing has won an international competition to design the Greenland Group Suzhou Centre in Wujing, China. The new tower will stand at 358 metres tall and will be made up of 75 floors.

The atrium is a key design feature of the building; It maximises daylight penetration, facilitates mixed mode ventilation in the lobbies and public spaces and acts as a fresh air supply source for the tower. The building is oriented to harness both the stack effect and prevailing winds, via the east and west facades of the atrium.

Major high performance energy saving strategies include a high performance facade, utilising cooler outside air at higher levels for natural ventilation of the atrium; the daylight responsive controls; lighting energy optimisation using efficient fixtures and occupant controls; energy recovery systems; demand controlled ventilation; and an onsite energy centre with combined heat and power plant, to capitalise on the overall load diversity of the development.

Luke Leung, SOM director of sustainable and MEP engineering, says: "The design of the Greenland Group Suzhou Centre utilises an atrium as the 'lung' of the building to provide ventilation and will incorporate a series of high efficiency measure with the objective to achieve a 60% savings in energy consumption compared to a conventional US high rise and a 60% reduction in potable water use."

SOM managing partner Jeffrey McCarthy states: "This exciting new commission embodies SOM's interdisciplinary commitment to elegant high performance design. The Greenland Group Suzhou Centre is designed not only for efficiency of construction and operation, but to make a strong skyline statement about Wuijang and its bright future."

The Greenland Group Suzhou Centre is SOM Chicago's sixth project with the Greenland Group.