A proposal from London-based architecture firm Tonkin Liu won a competition to design a new trade center in Zhengzhou, China. The project, titled the “Cradle Towers,” will comprise five towers of varying heights and rise from a shared retail and leisure podium.
The mixed-use towers will form an urban mountainscape and offer residential, office, and hotel accommodations. The retail podium will be hollowed out to form a ring that encircles sheltered, landscape paths and gardens. The ring will also be lifted in areas to allow the inner courtyard to spill out beyond the podium and connect with the city.
Additional vertical courtyards will be created at the base of the towers to bring daylight into the buildings and vertical gardens will creep up the buildings’ facades, which will be covered in fritted glass. Each of the five towers will have a rooftop glass house that screens the mechanical plant floors while also adding an element of greenery to the skyline.
If you are feeling a bit of déjà vu while looking at this project, you aren’t alone. Tonkin Liu’s design bears a striking resemblance to Santiago Calatrava’s recently revealed Greenwich Peninsula. Each design has multiple tapering towers rising from a shared podium. However, the Greenwich Peninsula design has fewer towers, three compared to five, that are all a uniform height.
A construction date for Cradle Towers has yet to be determined.
Rendering courtesy of Tonkin Liu.
Rendering courtesy of Tonkin Liu.
Related Stories
Mixed-Use | Aug 2, 2017
Redevelopment of Newark’s Bears Stadium site receives team of architects
Lotus Equity Group selected Michael Green Architecture, TEN Aquitectos, Practice for Architecture and Urbanism, and Minno & Wasko Architects and Planners to work on the project.
Retail Centers | Jul 20, 2017
L.A.’s Promenade at Howard Hughes Center receives a new name and a $30 million cash injection
Laurus Corporation and The Jerde Partnership will team up to rebrand the center as a family-friendly dining and entertainment destination.
Office Buildings | Jul 12, 2017
CetraRuddy unveils seven-story office building design for Staten Island’s Corporate Park
Corporate Commons Three is expected to break ground later this summer.
Mixed-Use | Jul 7, 2017
ZHA’s Mandarin Oriental hotel and residences employs ‘stacked vases’ design approach
The mixed-use tower will rise 185 meters and be located in Melbourne's Central Business District.
Office Buildings | Jun 27, 2017
Bloomberg’s European headquarters wants to become a natural extension of London
Foster + Partners’ design rises 10 stories and is composed of two connected buildings.
Multifamily Housing | May 25, 2017
Luxury residential tower is newest planned addition to The Star in Frisco
The building will be within walking distance to the Dallas Cowboys World Headquarters.
Mixed-Use | May 24, 2017
Schmidt Hammer Lassen Architects will develop mixed-use project on former site of Carlsberg Brewery
The 36,000-sm project will cover a city block and include a residential tower.
Mixed-Use | May 23, 2017
45-story tower planned for Miami Worldcenter
Pickard Chilton Architects will design the 600,000-sf 110 10th Street.
Mixed-Use | May 17, 2017
The Lincoln Common development has begun construction in Chicago’s Lincoln Park
The mixed-use project will provide new apartments, condos, a senior living facility, and retail space.
Reconstruction & Renovation | Apr 27, 2017
One of the last abandoned high-rises in Detroit’s downtown core moves one step closer to renovation
Kraemer Design has been selected as the architect of record and historic consultant on the Detroit Free Press building renovations.
