Alibaba’s headquarters in Shanghai is located in the vibrant green new headquarters building in the Xuhui Binjiang area, showcasing the culture and spirit of an innovative technology company “from the inside out”.The globally renowned Alibaba Group, founded in 1999, is a multinational technology company born locally, with business areas covering core e-commerce, cloud computing, digital media, entertainment, and innovation. Recently, SOM announced the design of its new headquarters office in the Xuhui Binjiang area of Shanghai. The building is inspired by “clouds”, symbolizing Alibaba’s leading position in the cloud computing field and the innovative spirit of the rapidly changing technology industry.
Image copyright © SOMThe total building area of the project is 75,000 square meters, designed to meet the current and future cross-regional collaboration needs of Alibaba employees. The design emphasizes flexibility, focuses on employee health, and creates a green office environment, allowing Alibaba employees to fully enjoy tailored indoor and outdoor workspaces. These diverse spatial layouts can accommodate different collaboration modes and flexibly assembled team needs, equipped with intelligent infrastructure, employing a human-centered design approach, and improving the micro-environment of the workplace through natural ventilation, green sky terraces, and rooftop gardens, further enhancing employees’ physical and mental health.The unique modular design is both efficient and flexible, creating a variety of office layouts, including large-span open spaces and various independent office areas, allowing all employees to choose suitable office and meeting spaces according to their needs.
Image copyright © SOM“Besides dreams, the only constant is change itself.” This is one of Alibaba’s cultural philosophies. SOM design partner Scott Duncan stated, “We adhere to this spirit and have designed an innovative building that keeps pace with the times, adapting to new needs, new teams, and new technologies. The headquarters design aligns with the urban texture, featuring cantilevered volumes and staggered rooftop terraces, creating a complementary relationship with the adjacent T block of Alibaba’s first headquarters, making the appearance harmonious with the existing park and surrounding buildings.”
Image copyright © SOMThe indoor courtyard on the first floor is located at the center of the “cloud”, providing a flexible multifunctional shared space that encourages communication and collaboration among teams. Public and gathering spaces can extend from indoors to adjacent outdoor terraces, allowing employees to connect with nature, breathe fresh air, and enjoy the view of the Huangpu River winding through the city center.The optimized large-span structure achieves a column-free interior space, meeting the flexible usage needs of teams of different sizes. The “collaboration bridge” set across the atrium creates more possibilities for small-scale communication and connection between teams.
Image copyright © SOMThis project adheres to the principles of sustainable design, minimizing glare and wind effects while high-performance exterior walls can reduce solar heat gain by approximately 40%. It achieves natural ventilation and fresh air circulation, reducing operational energy consumption under Shanghai’s subtropical climate conditions.To maximize the building’s self-shading effect, the designers carefully considered the staggered arrangement of the building’s form; at the same time, an AI-controlled shading system can further achieve temperature regulation, fully utilizing natural light according to changes in sunlight. The building’s rooftop garden applies the “sponge city” design strategy, achieving rainwater collection and reuse.
Image copyright © SOMThis project actively responds to the Chinese government’s green and low-carbon development strategy, with the building design aiming to exceed LEED v4 and China’s green building standards, targeting lower “embodied carbon” and “operational carbon” emissions. This building is an innovative benchmark for high-tech enterprises carefully crafted by SOM and Alibaba.END800,000 architects are paying attentionOfficial account | Video account | Bilibili | Douyin | XiaohongshuWei Yiming, Archlady, Zheng Lijiang, Xueliang, Fan Kun, Huiqi, Xiaoni
