In 2004, the Seattle Central Library turned heads with its continuous skin that wrapped programmatic elements into an iconic, irregular whole. Two decades since and halfway around the world, OMA has employed a similar premise for the JOMOO Headquarters tower in Xiamen, a coastal city undergoing high-density urbanization in southeastern China. Yet where the acclaimed library in Seattle is transparent and wholly crystalline, the recently completed JOMOO building is denser, stiffer, with a disjunctive form. Balancing sculptural ambition with corporate restraint, its wrapper performs complexity with a straight face.
