press kitapril 2011

Financial Tower Ho Chi Minh City

AREP communicationMedia Relations: Dominique du Jonchay - + 33 (0)6 16 17 11 14 - dduj@ipconseil.comCommunication Contact: Judith Thépot - + 33 (0)1 57 27 16 47 - judith.thepot@arep.fr

Financial Tower - Ho Chi Minh City

april 2011

The BITEXCO Financial Tower is an iconic symbol of the development of Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam’s economic capital. Housing

offices and businesses, the tower asserts its identity through its height and its geometry of taut curves rising up from the dense

city below. Located in the heart of the city near the river Saigon, the tower stands at the intersection of three streets (Hai Trieu,

Ho Tung Mau and Ngo Duc Ke).

Shaped like a huge leaf curled in on itself and opening out to the sky, the tower evokes both nature and traditional architecture

and objects made from assembled or woven plant material. The tower’s complex geometry consists of inclined cylinders linked

together by truncated cones. The sculptural quality of the tower is heightened at night by white lighting that emphasizes the

sheer vertical of the west façade, the pinnacle of the tower and the underside of the helipad (helicopter platform) which juts

out by 25 metres.

The 68-storey tower stands on a base whose first five floors house a shopping mall, conference facilities and restaurants.The

ground floor is extended by an esplanade and terraces planted with trees.

Most of the tower itself is given over to offices. The upper part above the helipad comprises 18 prestige floors, a panoramic

bar and a VIP restaurant.

The offices are served by double-deck lifts inside the tower’s central core. They are controlled by a grouped call system to mi-

nimize waiting time. An express service runs from the ground floor to the public and VIP levels on the 50th floor, where visitors

enjoy an incomparable view over the city and the river.

The technical rooms are on the 29th and 30th floors and at the top of the tower. Cooling towers are located above the shopping

mall and on several levels of the basement, where the generators and oil and water tanks are also housed.

The glass panels on the façades incorporate screen-printed motifs (varying in density according to their position) which soften

glare and provide protection from the sun. Inside, wooden louvred shutters filter the light in the upper and lower parts of the

windows. This interplay of materials again echoes the traditional Vietnamese art of weaving and assembling natural mate-

rials.

The construction of the BITEXCO Financial Tower involved an international design team. They have created a pioneering building

and a landmark for today’s Vietnam.

Financial Tower

Ho Chi Minh City

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Financial Tower - Ho Chi Minh City

april 2011

Contracting owner: BITEXCOLAND

Project management:

- AREP Ville (prime contractor) / É. Tricaud. Team: É. Dussiot (project director, team manager), A. Murray (architect, project

manager), C. Lakeman, A. Vaz Correa

- Carlos Zapata Studio (concept architect)

AREP subcontractors:

ID Associés (Gilles Leborgne, interior architecture), LERA (tower structure), DSA (mechanics, electricity, fluids), Barker+Mohandas

(lifts), PAEC (base structure), ID Associés (interior architecture), VNCC (local architect), ARCORA (façade technical research),

Meinhardt (façade technical research)

Assistance to contracting owner:

Turner International (project management, scheduling control, coordination), DLS (economist)

Firms:

Delta (foundations, substructure), Hyundaï (main structure), Eagon (façade), Otis (lifts), Prime (base interior), MTIC (core tower

interior)

Project launch: 2006

Delivery: end of 2010

Surface area: 95,000 sq m

Total cost: €130 million

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Financial Tower - Ho Chi Minh City

1 - n° 15287 - location

2 - n° 12585 - site plan

3 - n° 15222 - standard floor plan

4 - n° 12589 - plan of 4th floor

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Financial Tower - Ho Chi Minh City

1 - n° 12586 - cross-section

2 - n° 14267 - view of leaf shape

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1 - n° 14262 - a beacon in the city

2 - n° 14238 - the tower lit for its opening

3 - n° 14253 - the tower seen from Nguyên Huê Street

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Financial Tower - Ho Chi Minh City

1 - n° 14237 - the tower bathed in shafts of light

2 - n° 14270 - presidential offices occupy the

floors above the helipad, with technical rooms

at the top

3 - n° 14251 - the tower seen from Ngo Duc Ke

Street

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Financial Tower - Ho Chi Minh City

1 - n° 15225 - the tower dominates the traditional cityscape

2 - n° 15226 - the glass tower and hotel architecture from another age

3 - n° 15227 - view from the river Saigon

International team

The project to build Vietnam’s first skyscraper draws on regional and

international expertise.

AREP, based in Paris, is the prime contractor overseeing a project

management team comprising firms from the USA (Carlos Zapata

Studio, concept architect; LERA, structural design), the UK (DSA,

technical research - fluids) and China, along with a Vietnamese

architectural and engineering firm.

The design work was structured around workshops bringing together

teams in Paris, New York and Hanoi, before building began in Ho Chi

Minh City.

As no local standards existed for the construction of a skyscraper, the

team based its project design on the International Building Code (IBC).

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Financial Tower - Ho Chi Minh City

1 - n° 15224 - geometric design of vertical stack modules

2 - n° 14276 - initial section of conical structure below the helipad

3 - n° 14281 - the helipad seen from below

4 - n° 15223 - geometric design of the tower

Geometric design

The tower’s coherent geometric design was crucial to the feasibility of

its sculptural form, rendered by different types of glass units.

The shell of a standard level module is formed by inclined cylinders.

Curved glass is used in the four cylinders marking the curvature of the

façade at the four points of the compass. Flat glass is used in segments

in the side cylinders. The cylinders are linked by joining panels.

The façade leans outwards up to the 22nd floor, creating an overhang.

Above this floor it leans inwards as the tower narrows towards its

top.

Below the helipad is a projecting conical structure of curved glass,

while the part of the tower above the helipad is cut away by an inclined

cylinder section of flat glass segments.

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Financial Tower - Ho Chi Minh City

1 - n° 14295 - the curvature of the tower’s glass panels is

echoed in the steel panels of the base

2 - n° 14283 - back of the pinnacle with deeper sills to

mark the top

3 - n° 14246 - detail of the façade with denser screen-

printing to emphasize the lines of the leaf

4 - n° 15199 -the first glass panel is fitted, June 2009

Details of the façade

The double-glazing system used for the façade incorporates white

screen-printing on the second face and an anti-sun coating on the third

face. The glass was produced in Europe and transported to China for

screen-printing, curving and assembly.

The aluminium millwork components were produced in South Korea

and transported to Vietnam, where the glass panels were assembled

in a dedicated workshop.

The relief of the spaced joints between the panels adds a rhythmic

effect to the façade.

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Financial Tower - Ho Chi Minh City

1 - n° 15200 - building the basement

2 - n° 15198 - building the tower structure in reinforced concrete

3 - n° 15201 - constructing the façade, December 2009

4 - n° 15202 - constructing the façade, January 2010, with a space

left for ventilation of technical rooms on the 29th and 30th floors

Construction

Building work lasted four years. During the first 18 months the

foundation piles were sunk (to a depth of 75 m) and a moulded wall

was built. Work then started on the tower’s concrete superstructure

– including the bottom slab and central core – and three basement

levels.

The tower’s reinforced concrete core was cast on the bottom slab

(several levels at a time), followed by the exterior columns.

The steel structure required to support the helipad was brought to the

site by boat. After inspection and a full assembly test, the girders were

hoisted by crane for cantilevered assembly at a height of 190 m.

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Financial Tower - Ho Chi Minh City

1 - n° 14228 - the base atrium, with stainless steel

escalators and screen-printed glass balustrades

2 - n° 14229 - the atrium shortly before completion,

view towards main entrance

3 - n° 15203 - cross-section of the tower showing lift

service system

Lifts

The tower relies on a highly efficient vertical circulation system.

Double-deck lifts take office staff from the ground floor to

odd-numbered floors and from the first floor to even-numbered floors.

One lobby has five lifts serving the lower floors and a second lobby has

five lifts for the higher floors.

The second lobby also has two express lifts to carry the public to the

panoramic lounge and VIP areas on the same level as the presidential

offices above the helipad.

The lifts are controlled by a call-grouping system to reduce

waiting time. Lifts are identified by their number and the colour of their

lacquered glass.

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