Foster & Partners has won a competition to design Alibaba’s new Shanghai office.

Alibaba, sometimes described as a Chinese version of Amazon and eBay combined, is the world’s largest online retailer, whose global headquarters in nearby Hangzhou employs 22,000 staff.

Fosters said the new office, located in the emerging Xuhui Riverside district, would “showcase [Alibaba’s] unique working culture to the public” by offering passers-by glimpses inside. At the centre of the building is a large public urban room with viewing terraces overlooking the central space and the building’s principal entrances opening on to it. The architect’s head of studio, Luke Fox, said this would create an active social core.

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