Tencent Research and Development Center

2012 / Wuhan

Location

Located beside Wuhan’s Tangxun Lake—a rare, large-scale urban water body—the building meets visitors with wind and an open horizon the moment they exit the metro. The 10×30-meter elevated ground level becomes a large “viewframe,” and a guiding watercourse leads people from the city edge toward the lake. The interior visual corridor remains unobstructed, extending directly toward the distant bridge. Standing beneath the black sloped wall, the pressure of the massing meets the softness of the lake breeze, shaping a distinctive spatial encounter.

Every Desk Faces the Lake

The office volume unfolds in a zigzag line following the lake edge, allowing every workstation to claim its own view. It’s a straightforward yet powerful planning strategy. Offset terraces on the third and fifth floors extend the panorama and create authentic waterside working spaces. The plan is pushed to its limit and stabilized by several vertical circulation cores, ensuring neither function nor view is compromised.

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Five Performative Faces

Toward the lake, a transparent façade paired with slender columns recalls the lightness of academic buildings; toward the city, the south and east elevations form sharp, dark silhouettes defined by large, clean cuts. The roof volume extends to conceal all mechanical systems, giving the entire massing a precise and tidy outline—even when viewed from above.

Measured, but Playful

The palette consists of glass, metal panels, and fair-faced concrete in a restrained composition of black, white, and red. Vertical folded textures reference ripples on the lake surface—subtle but distinctive. As the first office building in the district, it avoids cosmetic gestures and instead chooses a principled response to the site: sharp and disciplined outwardly, soft and open internally.