Adjacent to a busy road in a dense area, this concrete-and-steel office tower is designed as both a landmark for the district and a soothing oasis. Its thin footprint optimises the area available for green landscaping. A façade arrangement of thick glass-reinforced-concrete strips limits solar heat gain. Intimate low-ceilinged spaces welcome building users to the ground floor, with views out to the landscaping. The communal podium floor is designed as an island in the middle of a reflection pool, balancing the clamour of urban noise from outside. Some walls and ceilings in these two floors are clad in wood. The upper floors - slanting out beyond the rectangular at one corner from 5th to top - are flexibly structured around a core.
Source: Aga Khan Trust for Culture