Tencent gets proposal from MVRDV for green smart city

After two years of development,  MVRDV  has unveiled its competition entry for Chinese tech giant Tencent’s next campus — a green and futuristic smart city shaped like a continuous undulating mountain range. Located on a 133-hectare site in Shenzhen’s Qianhai Bay, the nature-inspired development combines references to the lush, mountainous surroundings with Tencent’s cutting-edge technology. The massive urban district is expected to include enough office space for 80,000 to 100,000 employees, public amenities, a conference center and homes for 19,000 Tencent employees.  Although Tencent recently completed their current Shenzhen headquarters, the Tencent Seafront Towers, the company’s meteoric growth and technological ambitions spurred them to launch a design competition for yet another headquarters in  Shenzhen  that would take the shape of an enormous smart city district. In developing their competition entry for the Tencent Campus, MVRDV conducted intensive research and created 28 different outline designs. Their final proposal not only includes the key qualities of smart cities, such as innovation and adaptability, but also incorporates green technology, from solar energy to the introduction of autonomous cars and a shuttle bus loop as the main means of transit. MVRDV’s proposal envisions the Tencent campus as a grid of over 100 buildings topped with an undulating roof of  solar  panels. Sky bridges link certain buildings to create a continuous surface reminiscent of a mountain range, while a waterfront park at the foot of the buildings emphasizes the campus’ connection to Qianhai Bay to the east. The park is also home to many of the urban district’s public buildings, including a school and kindergarten, a sports center and a data center. A rock-shaped conference center bookends the southern side of the park. The “beating heart” of the development is a spherical information plaza that will display data related to the everyday functioning of the campus, from occupancy rates to carbon usage.  Related: BIG presents a sustainable “living laboratory” town in Japan for Toyota at CES “Our studies and competition entry for Tencent are an attempt to show that the smart city is also the green city,” Winy Mass, MVRDV founding partner, said. “With ubiquitous smart city elements, headlined by a futuristic data hub at the heart of the campus, Tencent employees would feel enveloped by technology. But they are also literally surrounded by nature, with the serpentine park always within a short walking distance, and green terraces all around them.” + MVRDV Images by Atchain and MVRDV

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Tencent gets proposal from MVRDV for green smart city

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