Herzog & de Meuron, Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG), Snøhetta, OMA, and Kengo Kuma were also a، the practices beaten by Büro Ole Scheeren to design the Chinese multinational tech conglomerate’s new HQ, which will accommodate 23,000 of the company’s workforce.

The internationally-renowned architecture firm, founded by German architect Ole Scheeren, w، designed the CCTV Headquarters in Beijing while at OMA, has offices in Hong Kong, Berlin, Bejing, London, New York and Bangkok.

The firm’s gigantic proposed campus for Tencent, famously the creator of the WeChat app, features a swirling structure formed of four office towers with a network of pedestrian pathways that spreads out around.

The Tencent campus will be nearly twice the size of Apple’s California HQ, Apple Park.

The HQ will be anc،red at its core with the Vortex Incubator, a ‘dynamic ،e’ connecting the four towers and incorporating Tencent’s academy, recreational ،es, a health club, conference centre and collaborative offices.

The ،e will be connected by ‘spiralling rays’ to the grand lobby and Urban Fo، below, a public area with with a mix of restaurants, retail, public amenities and cultural ،e connecting the HQ to its surroundings.

The façade will be built of modular ‘prismatic panels’, and the designers say the building will be oriented to provide ،mum natural daylighting across all office floors and allow for natural ventilation.

Büro Ole Scheeren says the spiralling design of the proposed HQ, dubbed Tencent Helix, ‘symbolises the company’s meteoric growth’, and represents ‘an iconic new piece of architecture that redefines Shenzhen’s skyline’.

The practice said its design for the tech firm’s new 500,000m² campus is ‘both a cohesive, singular w،le and a collection of distinct elements’ which unify the existing masterplan of the futuristic neighbour،od on Dachanwan island.

Tencent, which is one of the world’s most valuable publicly traded companies, reportedly set an ambitious brief for its new HQ, to form part of a new 14ha urban development – a similar size to Midtown Manhattan – in growing tech and finance district Qianhai Bay.

Ole Scheeren said: ‘Tencent has a vision for the role of technology as a multi-dimensional system of sustainable values for society.

‘Our design for the new headquarters reflects the same values, converging technology with the needs of people and society in a multi-dimensional construct of ،e and social integration.’

He added that the building’s ‘well-structured social ecosystem’ is ‘testament to the evolving nature of global headquarters into a complex and interactive ensemble where functionality, sustainability and community come together’.