A mixed-use waterfront campus on Shenzhen's Emerald Island comprising a twisting glass tower, cantilevered performing arts center, and technology park — organized around landscaped gardens and a harbor promenade to establish a new cultural and commercial focal point for the city's western district.
Following Shenzhen’s designation as a UNESCO “City of Design” in 2008, the municipal government sought to establish a new cultural and technological anchor on a ten-hectare waterfront site west of the central business district. Asymptote’s response brings together office space, two hotels, and a performing arts center within a landscaped campus that engages the harbor edge, organized as a micro-urban district rather than a conventional single-building complex.
Tower
The principal tower rises as a twisting glass volume, its faceted curtain wall shifting in geometry as it ascends. A diamond-patterned podium base anchors the tower to the campus, housing commercial and hospitality programs that connect directly to the public gardens and waterfront promenade. The tower’s asymmetric profile creates a dynamic silhouette visible across the harbor.
Performing Arts Center
The performing arts center is expressed as a series of cantilevered volumes that extend outward from a compressed base, creating a dramatic architectural gesture. Large glass surfaces at the cantilever edges frame views of the surrounding landscape while flooding interior lobbies and foyers with natural light. The building’s angular geometry establishes a counterpoint to the vertical tower.
Waterfront & Landscape
The campus is organized around a network of landscaped gardens, pedestrian promenades, and planted terraces that mediate between the scale of the buildings and the intimacy of the waterfront edge. A canal threads through the site, crossed by pedestrian bridges that link the performing arts center to the technology park and harbor-side pathways.
Campus & Urbanism
The complex establishes a micro-urbanism of public spaces set alongside company workspaces and a campus-like setting. Interior streets and open plazas activate the ground plane, connecting the performing arts center, tower lobbies, and retail programs into a continuous pedestrian network that extends the public realm from the waterfront deep into the campus.
Facade & Materiality
The tower’s glass curtain wall shifts between blue reflectivity and transparency depending on light conditions, while the performing arts center employs metallic cladding panels in silver and white that modulate between opacity and translucency. The interplay of materials creates a constantly evolving visual presence throughout the day.
Design Team
The project was designed by Hani Rashid and Lise Anne Couture with the Asymptote Architecture team.
