Bank of China Tower, Hong Kong

You don't need to be big to be noticed.Height: 305 meters

Cost to build: NA

Completion date: May 1990 

Fast fact: The building was criticized by feng shui masters for its sharp corners, which in feng shui terms means it will bring bad luck to its neighbors (notably the HSBC main building). Pei had to modify the design before construction began. (http://www.designboom.com/portrait/pei_bank.html)
The Bank of China Tower was the first skyscraper outside of the United States to surpass the 305-meter mark and was once the tallest building in Hong Kong.

Reflecting lights like a glittering crystal, the unusual crystalline-like structure is inspired by the bamboo plant, mimicking its strength, vitality and growth.

It has for years been one of the most distinctive buildings in Hong Kong, out-shining its taller neighbors.

Together with Two IFC, the tower is part of the city's Symphony of Light show, illuminating Hong Kong's harbor every night at 8 p.m.

Overall structure

On a difficult inland site, the client requested a distinctive regional headquarters with an imposing banking hall and130,000m² of office space, 40% for BOC's operations and the remainder for tenant leasing. The challenge was to execute the necessarily tall building in a typhoon zone within a firm budget of HK$1 billion (US$130 million).

The solution, integrating architecture and engineering inseparably, involves an asymmetrical tower that addresses both skyline and street. Comprised of four vertical shafts, the incremental tower emerges from a 52-meter cube and diminishes its mass, quadrant by quadrant, until a single triangular prism remains. The faceted prism is clad in reflective glass that mirrors the changing sky, anchoring the expanding business district and providing a distinctive vertical axis to Hong Kong's towering skyline. The whole is supported by an innovative composite structural system that not only resists high-velocity winds, but does so with significant savings of construction time and materials.

At ground level, the tower is pulled back from the street to create a welcoming pedestrian environment that is fully accessible yet secluded from urban congestion.  It is surrounded by a broad promenade, and flanked by cooling water gardens that muffle the activity and noise of surrounding traffic.