Beijing Looped Hybrid
Beijing - China
An ultra-modern expression of 21st. Century ecological urban living.
Filmic urban space; around, over and through multifaceted spatial layers, is one of the central aims of this 160,000 square meter Hybrid Building complex with over 700 apartments sited adjacent to the old city wall of Beijing.
Current development in Beijing is almost entirely ãobject buildingsä and free standing towers. This ãcity within a cityä envisions urban space as the central aim as well as all the activities and programs that can support the daily life of over 2500 inhabitants: café's, delis, laundry, dry cleaners, florists etc, line the main public passages.
The polychrome architecture of Ancient China inspires a new phenomenal dimension especially inscribing the ãspatiality of the nightä. The undersides of the cantilevered portions are colored membranes in night light glow. Misting fountains from the water retention basin activate the night light in colorful clouds, while the floating Cineplex centerpiece has partial images of its ongoing films projected on its undersides and reflected in the water.
The eight towers are linked at the twentieth floor by a ring of cafes and services.
Focused on the experience of passage of the body through spaces, the towers are organized to take movement, timing and sequence into consideration. The point of view changes with a slight ramp up, a slow right turn. The elevator displaces like a ãjump cutä to another series of passages on a higher level, which pan across exhilarating peripheral views.
The encircled towers express a collective aspiration; rather than towers as isolated objects or private islands in an increasingly privatized city.....the hope of a new type of collective 21st. Century space in the air is inscribed.
Programmatically this loop aspires to be semi-lattice-like rather than simplistically linear. The hope is that the sky-loop and the base-loop will constantly generate random relationships, just as a modern city does.
Mass housing in China has historically been standardized and repetitive. To break the pattern this new vertical urban sector aspires to individuation in urban living with a huge variety of apartment lay-outs available among the 728 living spaces.
Digitally driven, prefabricated construction of the exterior structure of the eight towers allows for ãbeamlessä ceilings. Every apartment has two exposures with no interior hallways. Principles of Feng-Shui are followed throughout the complex, which is aimed at sustainability ãLEED Goldä rating.
Garden of Mounds , five landscape mounds with recreational activities, have been formed with the earth excavated from the new construction.
The new park is a semi-public space while the use of the integrated functions is electronically controlled by the resident's cards.
1. The Mound of Childhood is a fenced in area adjacent to and integrated with a kindergarten.
2.The Mound of Adolescence has a Basket Ball Court, a Roller Blade and Skate Board Area a Music and TV Lounge
3.The Mound of Middle Age has a Coffee and Tea House, a Tai Chi Platform and two Tennis Courts.
4.TheMound of Old Age has Chess Tables, a Reading Lounge, a Tai Chi Platform and an Exercise Machines Park
5.The Mound of Infinity is a Meditation Place with ã5 Elementsä Pavilions: Earth, Wood, Metal, Fire and Water.
Site Area: 6.18 hectars
Total Building Area: 210,000 square meters
Construction start: November, 2004
Completion: Estimated 2006
Client:
Modern Hongyun Real Estate Development Co. LTD. Beijing, China
Architect:
Steven Holl Architects
Principal-in-charge: Steven Holl,
Project Architect: Li Hu
Project Team:
Hideki Hirahara, Christiane Deptolla, Shih-I Chow, Matthew Uselman, Young Jang, Garrick Ambrose, Yenling Chen, James Macgillivray, Jongseo Lee, Judith Tse, Liang Zhao
Associated Architect:
Beijing Capital Engineering Architecture Design Co. LTD.
Structural Engineer:
Guy Nordenson and Associates
Mechanical Engineer:
TRANSSOLAR Energietechnik GmbH
Cosentini Associates
Lighting Designer:
Halie Light and L'Observatoire International
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