August, 2005

JOHN PORTMAN & ASSOCIATES AWARDED LANDMARK PROJECT
Fortune Finance Center Establishes Vision for Chinese City Center

ATLANTA, GA - August 19, 2005 - John Portman & Associates, Inc. (PORTMAN) is proud to announce the design of the Zhe Jiang Fortune Finance Center, a project tasked with setting the quality benchmark for future development within the new Central Business District (CBD) of Hang Zhou.

In response to the CBD Master Plan, the firm was challenged to create two towers on the site. Grace Tan, President of the firm, explains, The task is very different from designing a single building. The positioning of the towers, their form and the relationship between the two must create a dialogue that is greater than any individual tower alone. A curved shape, a powerful departure from the standard rectilinear form, was chosen to help maintain the projects prominence as the first large scale development in the CBD.

The positioning of the towers takes on a sculptural feel. As the top of one building reaches up, its peak flows into the rising summit of the other, creating a dynamic energy between the sloping roofs of the two towers. Setting the towers into a lushly landscaped sunken plaza provides people with a refuge from the hustle and bustle of typical busy city streets. The towers present stunning panoramic city views and gaze down upon the Qiantang River, bringing the calming influence of water into an otherwise urban environment.

There are 130,000 square meters of office space in the towers, while the plaza offers dining and retail shopping in a luxuriant garden setting. The towers rise 212 meters (52 stories) and 148 meters (36 stories) above street level. It is expected that groundbreaking will be toward the end of 2005 and that construction will be completed by 2007. For more information about Fortune Finance Center and other projects by John Portman & Associates, please visit www.portmanusa.com.

go back to the recent  N e w s index