In the summer of 2007 the headquarters in China of Henkel KGaA was completed in Pudong, Shanghai’s booming economic center on the east bank of the Huangpu River. The new administration and research center stands in a green field and in its basic form represents an asymmetrically curving U. The design for the new building is based on the concepts of “skin” and “mantle”, as well as the reflection of nature within architecture. As the official city flower of Shanghai, the magnolia was the inspiration for various design ideas. From a functional standpoint, the new headquarters mirror Henkel’s identity as a leading high-tech company. The designers’ guiding principles were environmental compatibility as well as the most modern building standards with respect to sustainable building. In addition, the values of Chinese culture were to be integrated into the design. A feng shui consultant was specially hired for this project to analyze the design from orientations and configurations.The building is an earthquake-proof construction with a concrete and steel framework. The most conspicuous sign of the influence of feng shui is that there are no right angles in the entire building. With five stories and a basement, the new building has a gross surface area of 23,000 square meters and approx-imately 500 work stations. A continuous construction grid of 5.5 meters and façade grid of 2,75 meters ensure the greatest flexibility as well as variable office and laboratory layouts.
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