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Weiwei Luo

Weiwei Luo, Director of Chinese Operations, is stationed in Beijing, where she heads AS+GG’s China office, promoting the firm’s presence and advocating its design philosophies in China

Before joining AS+GG in the beginning of 2009, Weiwei was an Associate and a project manager specializing in Chinese projects in the Chicago and Shanghai Offices of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill for 9 years. While there her projects ranged from mixed-used, super tall, convention and exhibition center, corporate headquarters, office building, hotel, retail to urban master planning. Many of these projects such as the Nanjing Greenland Plaza and Pearl River Tower were done in collaboration with Adrian Smith, Gordon Gill and Robert Forest.

Weiwei’s fluency in Mandarin Chinese and English, understanding and appreciation for both cultures and knowledge of the key ingredients in creating a successful Chinese project make her uniquely positioned for her responsibilities at AS+GG.  On all of our Chinese projects, she serves as the liaison between the design team and Chinese clients, architects/engineers, consultants and contractors. She assists the different players on a project to find a balance  between the client’s and architect’s objects and visions, fast paced design and construction schedules, budget constraints, building codes and local regulations, government authorities’ mandates, and construction practices and qualities.

Education

Bachelor of Architecture (with honors), University of Texas at Austin, 2000

Affiliations

American Institute of Architects
Licensed architect in Illinois
LEED Accredited Professional

Awards + Honors

Malama Learning Center Design Competition, Meritorious Award (as freelance architect), 2003

Presentations

"Pearl River Tower," Stadtkultur International e.v., Workshop Series on "Sustainable Urban Development", Qinghua University, Beijing, China, November 2007
"Pearl River Tower," Pecha Kucha Beijing Vol. 18 -- Pecha Kucha goes GREEN, Beijing, China, July 2008
"Pearl River Tower," DAAD Alumni-Fachseminar, Guangzhou, China, November 2008

Major projects at Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill Architecture:

Great City Chengdu
1 square-kilometer development in central China, stemming from an investigation into the relationship between high density urban living and sustainable development. Will accommodate a population of 100,000 people, or 30,000 families. Chengdu, China

Wuhan Greenland Center
119-story, 606-meter tall, 300,000 sm mixed-use tower features 50 office floors, 17 residential floors and 22 hotel floors and four club levels, four sky lobbies, and multiple mechanical floors. Wuhan, China

Sanya Haitang Bay Resort
The luxurious development will consist of two separate hotels, luxury villas and a condo hotel tower, set within a sustainable master plan. Hainan Island, China

Vantone Center Tianjin
185-meter tower consists of 64,000 square-meters of above-grade Class A office and high-end retail space, along with an additional 30,000 square meters of below-grade retail and parking. Also features a 27 meter-tall private club for building tenants at its top. Tianjin, China

Yintai
360 m and 240 m twin towers inspired by the sun halo. Elegant elliptical form and unique halo fin design catch the sun movement, and create a sky garden amenity. Feature restores solar energy and transforms the building into a 24 hour light sculpture. Beijing, China

Golden Cross Sky Bridge
Proposed urban pedestrian link to allow the elevated pedestrian circulation over the Golden Cross intersection. The Sky Ring opens to the ground and connects to the subway underground through four vertical cores to the existing subway exits. Beijing, China

Shenzhen Twin Towers
The design for these towers celebrates the twin notions of harmony and identity. The striking form created by the joined towers and unifying sun shades creates an important and distinctive new landmark in the region. Shenzhen, China

Nanshan Tower Exterior Wall
Exterior Wall design for a mixed-use development in Shenzhen’s Nanshan District that optimizes solar and wind mitigation.  The development includes a 300m tower, 160m tower and conference facility.  Shenzhen, China

Gang Xia Tower
198-meter, 43-story tower in Shenzhen’s Futian Central District, with views to the adjacent Civic Center Park and a series of high performance solar shades. Shenzhen, China

Beijing Waldorf-Astoria
Luxury hotel project located in the heart of downtown Beijing, China. Bronze exterior reflects the character of the site, and the super frame recalls the symmetry and  steady character of Chinese traditional architecture. Beijing, China

Beijing Franshion Development
Master planning, architectural and interior design of mixed-use  development in Beijing’s Central Business District featuring residential, retail, educational and recreational facilities along with extensive landscaping. Beijing, China

Yixing Dongju Far East Development
Master planning and architectural design for 5,200,00 sf (484,455 sm) development consisting of two towers, a mixed-use office and hotel tower and a neighboring residential tower. Intersecting buildings create a central park space, which can convert to a dramatic theater space. Yixing, China


At SOM:

Canary Wharf DS-3
A one million sf office building in the heart of Canary Wharf. London, United Kingdom

United States Patent and Trademark Office
The new office complex for the USPTO. 2004, Alexandria, Virginia

Virginia Beach Convention Center
Master planning and architectural design for a 500,000 sf facility which includes a 150,000 sf exhibit hall, a 30,000 sf ballroom and 25,000 sf of meeting space. 2007, Virginia Beach, Virginia

Chemsunny Plaza
1.8 million sf Chemsunny Plaza Corporate Headquarters for Sinochem. 2006, Beijing, China

Suzhou International Expo Center
A 263,000 sm convention and exhibition complex that features one of the largest column-free exhibition spaces in the world: 70,000sm on the second level. Phase 1, which consisted of the three of the five pavilions, was completed in 2005, Suzhou, China

Nanjing Greenland Plaza
Architectural design and engineering for 3.5 million sf mixed use super tall building including office, hotel service apartments and commercial functions. 2007, Nanjing, China

Shanghai Grand Center
Design services for office building in Pudong district, 80,000 sm above grade, 20,000 sm below grade.  Currently under construction, Shanghai, China

Pearl River Tower
Architecture for the 69-story China National Tobacco Corporation headquarters. This 2,243,100 sf building proposes to be the first supertall tower to attempt to produce as much, or more, energy than it consumes. Every aspect of the 303-meter tower is designed to harvest wind and solar energy. 2009, Guangzhou, China

North Bund White Magnolia Plaza
Design of two towers (totaling 400,000 sm) including hotel, office and retail on Huangpu River. Currently under construction, Shanghai, China

Zhengzhou Greenland Plaza
150,000 sm mixed-use complex, including hotel, office and retail. Currently under construction, Zhengzhou, China

Zhujiang New Town F1-1 Project
A 150,000 sm complex that houses an office building, service apartments, bank and retail, and strives to become LEED certified. Guangzhou, China

China International Copyright Trade Center
This 245,000sm mega building aims to become the first platform for copyright trading and transaction in China and to create a new icon for Beijing’s CBD. Beijing, China

Ningbo Bank of China Headquarters Concept Design
The concept design effort for this project is to design the new headquarters office for the Bank of China Ningbo Branch, also as an icon for the Eastern New Town of Ningbo.  Ningbo, China

Shanghai Center Concept Design Competition
Sustainable design and a mixed-use program: office, hotel, retail and conference combine to make this tower at 580m not only the tallest building in Shanghai, and also a self sustainable vertical city.  Shanghai, China

Shenzhen Ping An Financial Center Design Competition
Innovative sustainable systems, technologies and structural systems were proposed to make this 540m super tall a green sky scraper. Shenzhen, China

China UnionPay Park Master Plan
Master planning, landscape design and concept architectural design for office, research, conferencing and residential functions inside a 21.6-hectare corporate office park of China UnionPay.  Shanghai, China

Shaoxing Didang New Town CBD and Meilong Lake Areas Master Plan
The Master plan for the new CBD of Didang New Town not only creates a modern city, also respects the old town of Shaoxing, a city famous for its canals.

Ningbo Jiang Dong District Core Area Urban Design
Master plan for several city blocks in eastern part of Ningbo’s Downtown.  Shanghai, China

Shanghai Chongming Island Chongqi Corridor Master Plan
The trans-island highway that connects to Jiangsu Province to north, and Shanghai to the south. Providing an ecological and sustainable design that minimizes the highway’s impact to the island’s environment was the focus of this master plan effort.

Wuhan Wangjiadun CBD Core Area Urban Design
The master plan aims to transform an old military airport in the heart of the City into a new CBD. The CBD will serve as the pivotal point for Wuhan’s three urban districts separated by the Yangtze River and Hanshui River.  Wuhan, China

Chengdu Steel Pipe Factory Area Conceptual Master Planning
This former factory area is part of the city’s program of redeveloping and expanding the urban center eastward. Master plan will provide a human scaled, mix-use and pedestrian friendly new neighborhood. Chengdu, China

Tianjin Tanggu Yujiapu CBD Master Plan
A national Level CBD that will be instrumental in making the Tianjin a city of dual cores. Mass transit is the catalysis for many aspects of the design, and aims to achieve an 80% ridership when the CBD is completed. Tianjin, China

Weiwei Luo on…

…design
It's the ever-present desire of striving to create better solutions for the different needs in our lives.

…where she finds inspiration
Everything in the world has the latent power to inspire.

…her favorite "moment" in architecture
The first half of the "moment" was when I was visiting the Kimbell Art Museum, and was overwhelmed by a feeling of being inside an ancient Roman structure. The second half came months later, when I read the following sentences in The Construction of the Kimbell Art Museum: "Its architect [Louis I. Kahn] characterizes the museum building as being inspired by 'Roman greatness,'…. Early in the design process, Kahn even predicted that the effect of the future museum would be close to that of a Pompeian house with its courtyards."

…her favorite city architecturally
I like too many cities to pick a favorite, but the most intriguing cities for me are the complex and flawed ones, reflections of their inhabitants and creators—such as Beijing, where the good and bad, extraordinary and mundane, old and new unapologetically coexist to form the city's personality.

…her favorite thing about a collaborative design process
People inspire one another. Everyone is free to think and voice his/her opinion and ideas, not bound by his/her prescribed role.

…what she'd be if she weren't an architect
A furniture maker.

…what she does when she's not designing
Spending time with family and friends, reading, watching movies, looking for original Chinese designs.