OMA's mixed-use podium tower 'prince plaza' opens in shenzhen, china

‘prince plaza’, the mixed-use podium tower by OMA, opens in shekou’s sea world district in shenzhen, china. the project, led by david gianotten and bauke albada, comprises an ensemble of four bars attached to a central core. three sky decks, clad in a hexagon-patterned façade that references the surrounding environment’s hills and waves, provide wide views of the nearby mountains and sea.all images © seth powers, courtesy of OMA

OMA’s ‘prince plaza’ is located in shekou’s sea world district, a unique coastal zone in shenzhen backed by the nanshan mountains and facing the shenzhen bay, abundant in public outdoor spaces. the 200-meter-tall podium tower, which offers 60,000 sqm office space, is clad in a fluted façade with extra wide glass panels that enables office tenants to visually connect with the mountains and the sea. at the same time, the three sky decks, which serve both tenants and the public, act as viewing platforms open to vistas of the surrounding landscape.

‘”prince plaza” engages with shekou’s dynamic context formed by its mountains and sea, industrial fabric from the early reform era, and recent skyscrapers,’ says OMA managing partner – architect, david gianotten. ‘its three sky decks are important design features. they are public spaces for everyone to appreciate the area’s natural environment through the city’s main view corridor. they also break down the otherwise monolithic skyscraper to create an architecture respectable to buildings of distinctive scales in its surroundings.’ 

‘no other urban area in shenzhen has such close proximity to both the mountains and the sea, with a view corridor and many open spaces. we fully utilised these features in our design of “prince plaza”,’ adds OMA project architect, bauke albada. the base of the tower encloses a 40.000 sqm podium mall that occupies the full length of the orthogonal site to maximise street level retail frontage. a prominent opening, clad in a similar façade as the sky decks, is created at the location through which the view corridor runs. underground levels of the mall are integrated with two metro lines that connect ‘prince plaza’ to the rest of shenzhen.

project info:

name: prince plaza

architect: OMA

client: CMSK (china merchants shekou holdings)

location: shenzhen, china

site: 18.985 m2

GFA: 106.500 m2

program: office: 66.500 m2, retail: 40.000 m2

OMA team

partner-in-charge: david gianotten

project architect: bauke albada

competition team: andreas viglakis, chee yuen choi, lingxiu chong, luke lu, xu yang, yang shi
with max bergman, helen chen, tim cheung, vanessa chik, jocelyn chiu, ikki kondo, erick kristanto, charles lai, anthony lam, federico letizia, arthas qian, jue qiu, roberto requejo, ricky suen

design team: ka tam, saul smeding, vincent mcilduff, wanyu he, yin ho, yongwon kwon, xu yang
with daan ooievaar, jedidiah lau, jenny ni zhan, kathleen cayetano, luke lu, mavis wong, paul feeney, slobodan radoman, thorben bazlen, vincent kersten,

construction team: ka tam, saul smeding, xu yang, yongwon kwon
with: christina kuo, hafsa siddique, joanna gu, mark kanters, yutian he

collaborators:

LDI & MEP: huasen
li hongdi, li lian, lian xianrong, liu chong, tan lan, zhong yubo

structure: RBS
li shengyong, zhang wenhua

traffic: SUTPC
jiang jie, shao yuan

commercial: world union properties
ivy, luo yu, zhang lin

façade: arup
jason paget, lian hongbo, max wu, nina you, robert wu, simon wu

interior: benoy
arnold kee, chris lohan, elaine tao, kai chung ng, kali chan, keith chau, peter mccaffery, sandy tsui

sustainability: yuezhong
songbo shu, yuanchang yu

landscape: metrostudio
ando kraithera lolurlert, antonio inglese, lionella biancon, valentina ticino, zhang fangfa,

metrostation integration: china railway tunnel survey & design institute
hu jianguo

lighting: CD+M
patrick yu, sunny kang, ted ferreira, tony pascocello, patrick yu models: oma / rj models