Following a two-year process, today MVRDV is revealing their competition entry and research process for the next Tencent headquarters campus. Located on a 133-hectare site in a prominent location in Qianhai Bay, Shenzhen, Tencent’s brief called for what is nothing short of an entire urban district including offices, homes for Tencent employees, commercial units, public amenities, schools, and a conference centre. MVRDV’s proposals and studies show the process of the making of this campus and conclude with these components integrated into a smart city district shaped like a continuous undulating mountain range, with a waterfront park winding its way around the base.

To accommodate their meteoric growth, Chinese tech giant Tencent began plans for its new headquarters in Qianhai Bay almost immediately after completion of their current Shenzhen headquarters, the Tencent Seafront Towers. But their ambition for their next home is on another level: the brief asked for a total of 2 million square metres of floor space to accommodate offices for 80,000–100,000 employees and homes for 19,000 residents, to be occupied by Tencent employees.

Beyond its scale, the brief is also technologically ambitious. Expanding on their mission statement, which foregrounds the “user value” of technology and the benefits it can bring to everyday life, they requested that their new campus be an exemplary smart city district, demonstrating the city-altering potential of the latest urban technologies.

▼规划总平，Master plan ©MVRDV 2018

▼规划分层，Masterplan layers ©MVRDV 2018