Audi 2015 Annual Report Download - page 77

As an architect at Gensler, Robert Price
lives in the future – at least as far as his
thoughts and ideas are concerned. Some-
thing he designed many years ago is
becoming reality today. One of the most
important projects for him began nine
years ago : a competition to design the
new skyscraper in the Pudong fi nancial
district, the so-called Shanghai Tower.
For a long time it was unclear how high
the building was going to be. What was
clear from the outset, however, was that
environmental and sustainability aspects
would play a central role. And thus came
into being what, at 632 meters,
has turned out to be the second-tallest
building in the world today. Robert Price
believes this is one aspect his job has
in common with that of automobile
designers and development engineers :
“You have to conceive things today that
will not become reality for many years.
Parameters often change along the way,
of course. New technologies no one had
even thought about at the beginning be-
come available. Statutory requirements
force you to rethink and adapt the origi-
nal idea.” This makes it important to know
the essential aspects from the very
beginning. E ciency and sustainability
were two such aspects for the construc-
tion of the Shanghai Tower as well as for
the development of the Audi Q7 e-tron
quattro. Exceptional design was another.
“The form of the Shanghai Tower is
eye-catching. We were confi dent that
we would also be able to construct the
building that way. But only the latest
technologies in 3D modeling and mate-
rials enabled us to realize the building
exactly as initially planned,” explains
Price. “These enable us to adapt the forms
of a building much better to environ-
mental factors such as the wind and sun,
and thus make them more e cient from
the beginning.”
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