China's Biggest Internet Company Wants to Use Its HQ as a Giant Testing Lab
Tencent Aims to Inspire With $599M Headquarters
Just across the border from Hong Kong in southern China, two gleaming towers of glass and steel are rising in a city long known for its manufacturing prowess.
This is the new headquarters for Tencent Holdings Ltd., a $599 million project aimed at creating a campus-like atmosphere for the urban setting. One 50-story tower is connected by skybridges to a shorter one, making them look like giant robots in a lover's embrace.
Scheduled for completion next year, the Shenzhen skyscraper could become one of the largest labs for new internet services and connected devices. It will feature hologram tour guides, conference rooms that adjust temperatures based on attendance and alerts for the best parking spots before commuters arrive. Asia's biggest internet company is using the building to beta test its platform for the so-called Internet of Things.
"In China today, there has never been smart architecture of this scale,” Ivan Wan, general manager and chief architect of Tencent, said in his first interview on the project. “Using our building as a massive testing field for the next generation of smart devices and technology is what makes this project iconic.”
Tencent isn't the first tech giant to use its headquarters to make a statement. In California, Apple Inc. enlisted Norman Foster for its spaceship building in Cupertino while Facebook Inc. hired Frank Gehry to expand its base in Menlo Park.
The design for Tencent's building came from NBBJ, a firm with a very long list of clients from the tech world, including Amazon.com Inc., Google, Samsung Electronics Co. and the finance affiliate of Tencent’s archrival Alibaba Group Holding Ltd.