Shenzhen Bay Super Headquarters Base will be an important business and financial centre in Shenzhen serving the Greater Bay Area of Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macau; integrating clusters of corporate headquarters within a global technology hub accommodating 300,000 employees each day. Including venues for international conferences, exhibitions, cultural and art programmes, the headquarters base will incorporate residential developments, a transportation centre, botanical grasslands, and coastal zone with wetlands.

Tower C by ZHA within the Shenzhen Bay Super Headquarters Base responds to its location at the intersection of the city’s planned north-south green axis and Shenzhen’s east-west urban corridor. Connecting directly with its adjacent park and plazas which transform into a terraced landscape extending upwards within its two towers, the design invites the public into the heart of the building where cultural and leisure attractions are housed in sweeping bridges that tie the towers together and give panoramic views of the city.

Served by the expanding Shenzhen Metro network, Tower C’s stepped podium integrates with the park to create a new public space for this dynamic city that has grown to become a global centre of technology innovation. Uniting the park’s landscapes with the civic plazas of the tower’s lower levels provides direct pedestrian access and daylight to the public transport interchange below ground. Prioritising pedestrians, the tower’s design also includes extensive bicycle parking and charging facilities.

Informed by 3D modelling tools developed by ZHA that optimise efficiencies in architectural massing, orientation and facade-to-floor ratios, Tower C’s design is a multi-dimensional vertical city of two towers at nearly 400m, providing column-free naturally-lit office space, shopping, entertainment and dining amenities, together with a hotel, convention centre and cultural facilities with exhibition galleries.


Tower C is targeting the highest Three Star certification under the China Green Label System. Its design incorporates a façade that mitigates the direct incidence of sun radiation into the building while allowing natural illumination within. Carefully modelled and resolved digitally with the widest dataset of parameters based on orientation and daily solar radiation throughout the year, the tower’s curtain wall system is articulated as vertical pleats throughout the façade designed with operable vents to provide natural and hybrid ventilation.

The building’s environmental controls are linked to district-level smart management systems. By monitoring real-time internal and external data, the system optimizes the performance of high-efficiency equipment and central chiller plants to reduce cooling and heating demands. This digital infrastructure is supported by onsite resource recovery, including rainwater collection and integration of greywater recycling. Ecological and material specifications prioritize both occupant health and reduced carbon impact. Aquaponic gardens within the tower’s terraced levels are designed to biologically filter local environmental contaminants. Internally, the use of low-volatile organic compound (VOC) materials is mandated to minimize indoor particulates.

The design of Tower C integrates the city and nature within its central green axis with the transit orientated development (TOD) of Shenzhen’s new spine, creating a ‘superscape’ that will become a tower of the future within the Super Headquarters Base.