Horizontal skyscraper

Richly illustrated with photographs, drawings, and water colors, this book documents the design and construction of Steven Holl's most ambitious project to date. Commissioned as the headquarters for China's largest real estate holding company, the Vanke Center became that country's first LEED platinum building and is a culminating expression of Holl's quest to realize super green, hybrid buildings that combine living, working, cultural, and commercial programs while creating and preserving public urban spaces. Located in the rapidly developing and overcrowded region of Shenzhen, Holl's Horizontal Skyscraper defines and protects a public landscape, while also providing maximum views of the sea and the surrounding hillsides for Vanke employees. "The Vanke Center is a surreal hybrid--part building, part landscape, part infrastructure," wrote Nicolai Ourroussoff in The New York Times, "It demonstrates what can happen when talented architects are allowed to practice their craft uninhibited by creative restrictions.