Megaprojects that humanize density

Planetworks develops large -scale projects, mostly located in Asia, mainly in the Chinese market. From a tower in which two different programs are stacked to a project of 120 thousand m2 in which he tried to merge the contemporary with the traditional, through interventions of a much smaller scale, integrating technology and design To achieve a more sensory experience.

After almost a decade of work at the KPF study (Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates) in which he gained experience in Megaprojects, a group of professionals decided take your own way founding Planetworks in 2017. Currently, the team is made up of 25 people distributed in three offices: New York, Barcelona and Shanghai.

The organization of work benefits from the time difference. “The projects do not restThey pass from one office to another, ”says Lucas Licari. The architect trained at the National University of Córdoba developed all his professional life abroad and now Timonea Planetworks from Spain.

“Humanize density”It is the common denominator of the completed projects of the study:“ High buildings are essential for reduce our footprint On our planet, but until now they leave much to be desired. We strive to make cities more open, attractive and habitable through the design of high buildings that raise human experience, ”says the study partners whose work team is made up of Three Argentine professionalsin addition to Chinese, Americans, Spanish, Canadians and Italians.

Licari expands the concept: “We are concerned with maintaining some aspects, for example, integrating organically These projects in the city in which they are located and, at the same time, create spaces on human scale in these great developments. We are interested in incorporating technological advances to, in some way, Improve user experience; and also introduce nature as a way to make these large -scale projects somewhat more friendly. ”

It is a development of mixed uses in the Historical neighborhood from Shanghai, which includes two offices and shops towers and a community center, with a total of 194 Mil M2.

For Licari, “what is interesting this project is that from the beginning a series of conditioning to those who had to answer. ”

On the one hand, the client wanted to optimize the visuals of the Skyline of the Pudong district. In addition, the towers should be located in the lot in such a way that they did not throw Shadows to neighboring buildings. And minimize reflexes or glare that this could cause the facade of our buildings on them.

Clarifies that these premises “are a recurring theme every time we design this type of buildings in height”, since, “they are usually Very glazed And they generate reflexes in their immediate environment but here the theme is further accentuated because around the land we have residential buildings. ”

Local building codes establish a certain minimum value, a ratio between the solid and glazed surface that you have to maintain. “In this case, being a sector that has a quite important historical load, it is stricter,” he says.

With those requirements in mind, the projects analyzed the solar incidence in the land and a volume was established that ensured the correct lighting in neighboring buildings. Then, they located the towers strictly within that volume. And defined the materiality of the facade avoiding the reflexes and maximizing the views towards the river

The team made a Digital mapping of neighboring buildings and projected them on the facade of the towers in order to adjust the window size.

“The rules that followed were: the closer our facade of residential buildings was, the openings were going to be smaller; And the further or the higher, the openings were going to be wider in a way to Maximize views Towards the points of interest, ”explains Licari.

The result is a kind of gradient where the base of the towers looks much more solid and the facade It is opening as height gains. To achieve this, they worked with ten different types of panels with windows of different sizes.

Another interesting point of the proposal is the connectivity of the project with its environment that is achieved by incorporating multiple access points that connect with the surrounding streets and, in turn, converge in a public space The Central Plaza.

“At the ground floor we introduce Visual runners Towards the center of the city that are framed by clash-colored roofs describe- and also some urban terraces with a view to the Pudong district. ”

In turn, revenues to buildings are retracted, creating covered public spaces that foster the Community interactionunderpinned by the diversity of uses (offices, commercial spaces and a community center with sports facilities).

Given the impossibility of adjusting the initial proposal of the client, which considered separated towers of offices and residences, to the dimensions of the land, Planetworks adopted a Hybrid strategy which optimized the available space and enhanced the verticality of design.

It is a tower of 112,000 m2 and 200 m highfinished in 2023, and located in a sector currently under development on the margin of the Xiang River in the city of Changsha (China).

In the staggered structure of office plants it serves as a basis for a residential tower at the top.

That location was decided to give an offer of flexible work spaces and with different configurations, more Terrazas outdoors for employee recreation.

And the Housing at the topwith exceptional panoramic views towards the river, which would facilitate its commercialization.

Celia is an innovator Illuminated and kinetic ceilinginstalled at the base of the newly opened Torre Ping An (of KPF) in Shenzhen, China. It is a public space that was generated when raising the base of the tower to define a kind of square that will connect to the network of pedestrian bridges of that city.

The installation Use sensor data to create dynamic movement and lighting patterns that react in a way Interactive Both the flow of people and to the signals of the internal systems of the building, integrating technology and design into an enveloping experience.

Los Aluminum panels White color open to facilitate the ventilation of technical spaces. In turn, sensors detect movement of people and activate a light response.

“In this project, we take advantage research Previous of our team about the Internet of Things Technology (IoT), a distributed network of microcomputers that detect and respond to the physical world, ”says Licari.

The final design incorporates 108 mobile “petals” and 2,484 Individually directable LED lights, which allows a precise control of each element.

Finally, the “Urban cloud” is an interactive pavilion which also responds to the movement of people and climatic conditions. It is a sculptural structure to activate the terrace of the PAFC Shopping Center, in Shenzhen.

The pavilion is resolved in layers. On a perimeter structure with steel columns, two layers of Steel cables tensioning and, above, a LED lighting system. In the upper part, vertical steel and silicone tubes also receive lighting.

The IoT system that the pavilion has, fed by cameras and sensors, gives it the ability to detect and react. He Movement of people Activate the lighting system and different scenarios can be programmed according to the activity carried out.

In addition, it has a system of Water spray In the perimeter structure, which is activated when climatic conditions require it to give greater comfort.

In both interventions, IoT technology and the visualization of environmental data can “give life ”to buildingstransforming them into more connected, receptive and dynamic entities, ”the authors close.