Hong Kong and Shanghai Bank
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The steel and glass structure stands out in its context
Ian Lambot Download Original
Bank tower, using high degree of prefabricated elements with no internal supporting structure, allowing a 10 story atrium to maximise natural daylighting within a suspension structure
Scale and time requirements induced using prefabricated and factory-finished modules articulated in a stepped profile of three individual towers, respectively twenty-nine, thirty-six and forty-four storeys high, which create floors of varying width and depth and allow for garden terraces.
The service cores are situated on the perimeter so as to create deep-plan floors around a ten-storey atrium. A mirrored sunscoop reflects sunlight down through the atrium to the floor of a public plaza, allowing for maximum natural daylighting within the office spaces. From the plaza, escalators rise up to the main banking hall, which with its glass underbelly was conceived as a shop window for banking.
Bridges spanning between floors break down the scale of the building both visually and socially. Circulation through the building combines high-speed lifts to the reception spaces with escalators beyond, reflecting village-like clusters of office floors.
Data
- Begun: Jan 1983
- Completed: Nov 1985
- Floor area: 99,000m2
- Sector: Office
- Total cost: £433M
- Address: Hong Kong, China
Professional Team 
- Architect: Foster + Partners
- Client: HSBC Banking Plc
- Management Contractor: John Lok/Wimpey Joint Ventures
- Structural engineer: Ove Arup & Partners
- Services engineer: J Roger Preston & Partners
- Quantity surveyor: Levett & Bailey in association with Northcroft, Neighbour & Nicholson
- Main contractor: Wimpey Construction UK