Monsoon Proof

Gensler recently completed the Johnson Controls Asia-Pacific Headquarters in Shanghai, China. Building in a mega-city that is vulnerable to rising sea levels, intense tropical cyclones with high-wind speeds and an extremely wet Asian monsoon season required the design to incorporate passive, redundant and low-maintenance building envelope solutions. Careful attention was paid to the detailing of façade border conditions where different systems meet. Façade laboratory and on-site testing was performed as a means of understanding the building enclosure’s ability to withstand extreme weather events.

The building has two emergency generators, but in the event of a power failure the building is made for extensive use of daylighting. A large green roof system reduces the volume and rate of stormwater runoff and provides passive solar heat gain reduction. These strategies position the building and the surrounding community to successfully function through adverse climatic conditions.