Design Forecast 2016

Gensler Design Forecast 2016
Tall Buildings
The new realities
of vertical living
Tenants’ long-term needs are driving tall
building design, with an inside-out approach
supplanting iconic form making. The
increasing use of split, offset, and perimeter
cores in new towers reflects this. These core
arrangements offer greater flexibility in
adapting buildings to future requirements,
and make it easier to introduce interior stairs
and atria that connect tenant floors and
provide daylight and natural ventilation.
Façades are no longer for weather protection
only; they are an integral part of a tower’s
strategy for reducing energy use and
increasing human comfort and amenity.
Double skins have given way to truly
usable interstitial spaces. Nanotechnology
will make skins more environmentally
responsive. New materials will also reduce
the weight of façades while improving
their performance.
Digital design, fabrication, and logistics will
speed start-to-finish times for tall buildings.
They will also set the stage for increasingly
automated systems testing, calibration, and
operation, enabling faster, better-supported
tenant occupancy.
Vertical living offers opportunities for
densely populated cities to accommodate
growth, and Asia will continue to lead the
charge. But the market for tall buildings
is expanding as Chinese and other offshore
investors and developers are moving into
overseas markets, including Europe and
the United States. Residential towers are
a fast-growing category in these markets.
Transit access and a mixed use program
(or proximity to those uses) will be crucial
to achieve sustainable urban living.
opposite: Shanghai Tower, Shanghai
below, left to right: KAFD GCC Bank Headquarters,
Riyadh, Saudi Arabia; Suzhou Zhongnan Center,
Suzhou, China; One Museum Place, Shanghai;
KAFD World Trade Center, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
80
81