Project: Chongqing Business Center
Designed by United Design Group
Design Leader: Simone De Gradi
Design Team: Hu Wei, Feng Hai Hua, Wu Shan Shan
Location: Chongqing, China
Website: www.udg.com.cn
The impressive design for the Chongqing Business Center in China is work of United Design Group, there's more after the jump:
About the Project:
This project is located in the center of the basic facilities that have been already set up: Chongqing Grand Theatre, Chongqing Science & Technology Museum and the central park has been finished and now operating. Many famous financial enterprises will take part in this area. The main characteristic of the A06 site (132m x 130m) is the height difference between west and east side of almost 7m.
The road system around the plot will make accessibility even harder: a) east the main artery, a fast flowing road with a eight difference with the site, they will be coplanar in the south east corner but then the road will drop down almost 6 meter when it crosses the road north to our site, leaving the accessibility from that side impossible for the vehicles; b) the roads on the north and south side are one way only; leaving us with not so many options on where to locate the main entrance for the vehicles. On the proximity of the South east corner there is the light train stop, the main public transportation facility in the area. This corner will become the main access for pedestrian and will be marked by the square.
The program presented various difficulties, first of all a very high FAR, the presence of a Gold Reserve Area (5000 m²) to be located in the A06-4/4 with special security needs and an independent drop off (south side), a Business Hall (less the 10000 m²) comprising a Stock Exchange Area (4000 m²) banks and retail. These conditions made the circulation and the segregation of the accesses combined with the height difference very hard to accomplish. The first step of our design process consisted on combining the two different orientations in one building.
The four towers will follow the same principles differencing themselves in height and floor plate. The tallest one, 200m high, will have a floor plate ranging between 1325m² and 1800 m²(A06-1/03 site), the 140m high one a floor pate ranging from 1165 m² to 1560 m²( A06-4/03 site) and the two lowest towers with a floor plate between 1010 m² and 1350 m² (A06-2&3/03 site).
The choice of the fluent and smooth shapes either in the towers and the podium is a tribute to the Yangtze River which flows along the island eroding the shoreline, this idea will be represented especially in the podium, which has been pulled inside on the east side in order to provide a small public space and to improve the value of the retail part facing it and on the south and north side to provide enough space for the drop off.
A great effort has been put in finding a suitable solution for the structure of the towers and organizing the core. This consists of three main elements: a) the core; b) pairs of huge columns on each corner of the plan; c) a system of crossing beam holding the whole together.
Source ArchDaily. *
