Uploaded August 2026 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
Rising above Guangzhou's rapidly evolving Pazhou Business District, the Sany IROOTECH Headquarters, designed by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM), reimagines the contemporary office tower through structural innovation, environmental performance, and public space. Conceived as the new home for Sany's cloud technology division, the project is defined by two 230-meter towers connected by a striking external diagrid structure that gives the building its distinctive architectural identity.
Rather than serving as a structural expression alone, the five-story steel diagrid creates a self-shading façade that improves environmental performance while allowing the office floors to remain largely column-free. Landscaped sky terraces, integrated at regular intervals, introduce vegetation into the workplace and strengthen the relationship between architecture, climate, and occupant well-being.
The two towers rise above an elevated podium, freeing the ground plane to create a generous public plaza and gardens while connecting the complex to Guangzhou's pedestrian network. Cafés, restaurants, exhibition spaces, meeting facilities, and public amenities transform the podium into an active civic destination, extending the life of the building beyond the workplace. Designed to respond to Guangzhou's subtropical climate, the headquarters also incorporates a range of passive environmental strategies, including natural ventilation, operable façade elements, shaded terraces, and climate-responsive façade modules.
Through a cinematic journey across the Sany IROOTECH Headquarters, this film reveals the project's defining architectural ideas, allowing viewers to experience its expressive structure, carefully choreographed public spaces, landscaped terraces, and climate-responsive design as they naturally unfold throughout the building. More than showcasing the architecture, it invites viewers to discover how structure, materiality, landscape, and movement come together to shape one of SOM's most compelling recent high-rise projects.
Project: Sany IROOTECH Headquarters
Architecture: Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM)
Location: Guangzhou, China
Film by: Dave Burk ©SOM
Film Curatorship by: Architecture Hunter
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Rising above Guangzhou's rapidly evolving Pazhou Business District, the Sany IROOTECH Headquarters, designed by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM), reimagines the contemporary office tower through structural innovation, environmental performance, and public space. Conceived as the new home for Sany's cloud technology division, the project is defined by two 230-meter towers connected by a striking external diagrid structure that gives the building its distinctive architectural identity.
Rather than serving as a structural expression alone, the five-story steel diagrid creates a self-shading façade that improves environmental performance while allowing the office floors to remain largely column-free. Landscaped sky terraces, integrated at regular intervals, introduce vegetation into the workplace and strengthen the relationship between architecture, climate, and occupant well-being.
The two towers rise above an elevated podium, freeing the ground plane to create a generous public plaza and gardens while connecting the complex to Guangzhou's pedestrian network. Cafés, restaurants, exhibition spaces, meeting facilities, and public amenities transform the podium into an active civic destination, extending the life of the building beyond the workplace. Designed to respond to Guangzhou's subtropical climate, the headquarters also incorporates a range of passive environmental strategies, including natural ventilation, operable façade elements, shaded terraces, and climate-responsive façade modules.
Through a cinematic journey across the Sany IROOTECH Headquarters, this film reveals the project's defining architectural ideas, allowing viewers to experience its expressive structure, carefully choreographed public spaces, landscaped terraces, and climate-responsive design as they naturally unfold throughout the building. More than showcasing the architecture, it invites viewers to discover how structure, materiality, landscape, and movement come together to shape one of SOM's most compelling recent high-rise projects.
Project: Sany IROOTECH Headquarters
Architecture: Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM)
Location: Guangzhou, China
Film by: Dave Burk ©SOM
Film Curatorship by: Architecture Hunter
Get to know other recent videos:
Interviews with the Creators: Studio MK27’s Biribinhas Private Beach House:
youtu.be/GI0H8tgoZpg
Gem of Private Brazilian Beaches: Studio MK27's Biribinhas Coastal Masterpiece:
youtu.be/bFygwzLR718
Interview: The Vision of Jacobsen Inside a Suspended Beach House in Rio de Janeiro:
youtu.be/xN1YbN1Jgws
Hunt, Watch & Read: architecturehunter.com
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