
Description
The towers in a contemporary city are known to host their contiguous environments, helping to shape the city's unique silhouette. At the same time, they are symbols of a country's technological and socioeconomic development. In our design process, we consider all these aspects in harmony with the surrounding environment.
The shape of the 'Hadi Tower' is neither rectangular nor square. Since the project site is trapezoidal, the tower is trapezoidal too, which has made it a new and unique typology of vertical structure.
The atmosphere of the tower is very inviting. The pedestrian entrance ramp has been derived from the trapezoidal site and stairway, which ascends from the ground floor over a double-height threshold into the first level. As such, Level One of the tower has been linked to the nearby upper floor via a double-height space viewing the mezzanine. The resulting double-height open area blends in with the surrounding landscape, lake, and road to form a bay that stretches to the nearby lake. Finally, a wooden staircase has given access to the mezzanine.
A lake in the west has glorified the beauty of the corner plot. Therefore, we have played with each façade through a climate-responsive solution. However, to protect from the heat, window screening has been used. Thus, the tower approached to behold nature as well as protect itself from the natural elements, i.e., bright sunny light, heat, etc. The core of the tower is to the north. The offices receive diffused sunlight from the other three sides. The served and service area is distinguished. The service area houses lifts, stairways, fire stairs, pantry, washrooms, electrical room, ducts for telecom, electrical lines, and fire. The served area contains office spaces from levels one to thirteen. The partially covered upper terrace operates as a restaurant. Because of the heat gain issues, the challenge was on the west and south-west corners, which were resolved with thoughtful resolution. Besides, the interior is prone to west-scorching sunlight and hence protective measures were pursued by embracing horizontal wooden louvers. Both fixed and operable horizontal wooden louvers are employed in the structure. The solution lets a subdued light illuminate the interior and allows an uninterrupted view of the lake by allowing the double bay structure to breathe. Terrace gardens with two different heights break up the monotony of the façade of curtain glass, vertical concrete members, and horizontal aluminum composite panels. Thus, we get vertical spaces for interaction. These raised garden terraces and verandah spaces connect the shape to the outside more visually and render the transparent shape with terraces blend in with nature and give people walking along the main road a sense of relief. The form attains a sense of completeness with the curved roof. The form attains a sense of completeness with the roof.
Information
H & M Head Office, Gulshan
Client:
Abdul Hadi
Location:
Gulshan, Dhaka
Project Team:
Ar. Md. Iqbal Habib (Team Leader)
Ar.Md. Ishtiaque Zahir
Ar. Moinul Haque Mashrik
Project Timeline:
2010-2016
Photo Courtesy:
Maruf Raihan
Video
For further information about the project H & M Head Office, Gulshan