China-based China Vanke Co. recently awarded New York City-based Steven Holl Architects the design contract for its new Vanke Center, a sustainable, mixed-use complex in Shenzhen, China, The “floating” Vanke Center will be a “horizontal skyscraper” sitting on a 60,000-square-meter (650,000-square-foot) site on the South China Sea coast near Hong Kong. The Vanke Center is a series of white connecting buildings on legs that appear to hover above an ocean floor that has receded. The “floating” buildings create a shaded landscape underneath, allowing sea and land breezes to pass through the site. The open plan provides for eventual expansion at the ground level. Vanke Center will incorporate new sustainable elements designed specifically for the development and will house a conference center, hotel, apartment, offices, and the headquarters of China Vanke. Groundbreaking is slated for April 2007.