Bank of China Tower
I. M. Pei & Partners · Hong Kong, Hong Kong · 1990
I. M. Pei’s Bank of China Tower is defined by a triangulated structural system expressed directly across its glass façades. The tower rises as a series of shifting prismatic volumes, allowing loads to move through diagonal mega-bracing while creating a sharply recognizable skyline profile. The geometric structure reduced the need for many internal columns and gave the building an identity distinct from Hong Kong’s more rectilinear office towers. Completed around 1989 and opened in 1990, it became one of Asia’s most prominent late twentieth-century skyscrapers and a major work in Pei’s career.