The Shanghai United Bank Tower was designed for Shanghai’s Pudong New Area. The concept for the design is based on a square plan that shifts slightly as it rises, to generate a very unique and dynamic massing. The fifty story tower becomes more slender as it rises, and as the floor areas decrease. This is in response to the program of uses the bank has established.

The podium is set behind the tower, so the tower faces the large open space at the center of the Lujiazui Financial Area. The podium is clad in stone and glass while the framework of the tower is granite to emphasize the strength of the building and the bank it represents.

Sydness Architects was invited to design the building as part of a design competition that included a small group of architects from around the world.