Ground has broken on an “image boosting” new headquarters for Zoomlion, China’s biggest construction equipment maker, designed by German architect Henn.
The 164,000-sq-m office in the central Chinese city of Changsha will combine office space with a data centre, laboratories, a museum and sports fields.
The base of the structure is an angular concrete podium intended to seem to hover above the ground, while the main office building, with its transparent glass façade and 12m cantilever, appears to balance on top of it.
Hua Qiao, Zoomlion’s project manager, commented: “We designed the headquarters as a giant, polished stone that floats above its natural surroundings. Inside the building, the light-filled, Z-shaped atrium provides a spacious and multifunctional common space for the company and its employees.”
The project is due to be completed in 2023.
Zoomlion is the largest maker of construction machinery in China, and the fifth largest in the world. It is a public company and employs around 30,000 people.
Henn has offices in Munich, Berlin and Beijing. It was founded in 1979 by Gunter Henn and has a staff of 380.
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