WORKac’s design for the Shenzen Metro Tower is a vertical city that twists together green space, public transportation infrastructure, mixed-use, sustainable technology, and efficient structural systems, while linking the underground to the sky.

The tower is located at two significant intersections: the horizontal crossroads of major boulevards and a new vertical interchange between the underground metro, ground-level bus station, shopping podium, and offices and hotel above. The design celebrates these multi-planar interchanges by tracing the diagonal line of the Metro Line #1 up through the building.

Other diagonal lines – also derived from the trajectory of the metro – become the organizing motif of the building’s facades, structural system and the striking “green pockets” that are chiseled into the building’s corners. These green spaces are integrated into building-wide sustainable systems that include rainwater harvesting, graywater treatment and rooftop solar panels.