The recently-formed Brininstool, Kerwin and Lynch (“BKL”), the Chicago-based architectural firm, is among two finalists selected to design a significant mixed-use project in Zhengzhou, China.
Known as the Zhengzhou Integrated Transport Hub West Plaza Block H, the $700 million complex will blend six million square feet of office, hotel, commercial and parking space in four towers next to a high-speed railroad station connecting such major urban centers as Shanghai and Beijing.
According to Managing Principal Tom Kerwin, BKL is one of two finalists for the project from a field of eight firms originally invited. Two of those firms were Chinese and six were international architectural firms, including one each from Germany and Japan, and four U.S. firms all headquartered in Chicago, he reports.
BKL’s proposed design consists of two sets of paired towers interconnected by a series of sky bridges and that contain special program spaces.
Each pair of towers includes one 75-story tower 984-feet (300m) in height and one 38-story tower 512 feet (156m) in height that soar above a podium that extends three levels below grade and nine levels above grade resulting in book-end tower sets that flank the site. The plan also provides a large entry plaza and drop-off that together with adjacent urban green space will provide an open and continuous pedestrian environment.
“Our view of this project in the traditional city of Zhengzhou is a design that maintains the best traditions of cultural influence while providing buildings that are firmly rooted in their own time in both function and technology,” said Kerwin. “We visualize the towers inspired by the mountain formations found outside of Zhengzhou as a bridge between cultural influence and the modern experience of living and working.”
BKL was created earlier this year when Tom Kerwin resigned his post as a managing partner at Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, Chicago, one of the largest and most respected international architectural practices, and formed a partnership with David Brininstool and Brad Lynch. BKL has also formed a strategic alliance with Magellan Development Group, a leading real estate developer, with principal offices located in Chicago.
The synergy of Kerwin’s extensive international experience during a 23-year career with SOM and David Brininstool’s and Brad Lynch’s well-established reputation for quality has positioned the firm as a leading global architectural practice.
Kerwin was previously responsible for the Greenland Financial Center in Nanjing, China, a mixed-use complex with a 1,476-foot-tall tower (450m) and three million square feet of office, residential, hotel and retail space. He was also responsible for the Rockwell Center in Manila, Philippines, a massive urban project with nearly 11 million square feet of office, residential, hotel and retail space spread across eight towers.
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