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 āCradle Towers,ā 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 buildingsā 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 dĆ©jĆ vu while looking at this project, you arenāt alone. Tonkin Liuās design bears a striking resemblance to Santiago Calatravaās 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.
Ā
Rendering courtesy of Tonkin Liu.
Ā
Rendering courtesy of Tonkin Liu.
Related Stories
| Aug 11, 2010
10 tips for mitigating influenza in buildings
Adopting simple, common-sense measures and proper maintenance protocols can help mitigate the spread of influenza in buildings. In addition, there are system upgrades that can be performed to further mitigate risks. Trane Commercial Systems offers 10 tips to consider during the cold and flu season.
| Aug 11, 2010
Skanska, Turner most active in U.S. hotel construction, according to BD+C's Giants 300 report
A ranking of the Top 50 Hotel Contractors based on Building Design+Construction's 2009 Giants 300 survey. For more Giants 300 rankings, visit http://www.BDCnetwork.com/Giants
| Aug 11, 2010
AECOM, Arup, Gensler most active in commercial building design, according to BD+C's Giants 300 report
A ranking of the Top 100 Commercial Design Firms based on Building Design+Construction's 2009 Giants 300 survey. For more Giants 300 rankings, visit http://www.BDCnetwork.com/Giants
| Aug 11, 2010
New book provides energy efficiency guidance for hotels
Recommendations on achieving 30%Ā energy savings over minimum code requirements are contained in the newly published Advanced Energy Design Guide for Highway Lodging.Ā Ā The energy savings guidance for design of new hotels provides a first step toward achieving a net-zero-energy building.
| Aug 11, 2010
AGC unveils comprehensive plan to revive the construction industry
The Associated General Contractors of America unveiled a new plan today designed to revive the nationās construction industry.Ā The plan, āBuild Now for the Future: A Blueprint for Economic Growth,ā is designed to reverse predictions that construction activity will continue to shrink through 2010, crippling broader economic growth.
| Aug 11, 2010
PCL Construction, HITT Contracting among nation's largest commercial building contractors, according to BD+C's Giants 300 report
A ranking of the Top 50 Commercial Contractors based on Building Design+Construction's 2009 Giants 300 survey. For more Giants 300 rankings, visit http://www.BDCnetwork.com/Giants
| Aug 11, 2010
Webcor, Hunt Construction lead the way in mixed-use construction, according to BD+C's Giants 300 report
A ranking of the Top 30 Mixed-Use Contractors based on Building Design+Construction's 2009 Giants 300 survey. For more Giants 300 rankings, visit http://www.BDCnetwork.com/Giants
| Aug 11, 2010
Report: Fraud levels fall for construction industry, but companies still losing $6.4 million on average
The global construction, engineering and infrastructure industry saw a significant decline in fraud activity with companies losing an average of $6.4 million over the last three years, according to the latest edition of the Kroll Annual Global Fraud Report, released today at the Association of Corporate Counselās 2009 Annual Meeting in Boston. This new figure represents less than half of last yearās amount of $14.2 million.
| Aug 11, 2010
First CityCenter projects earn LEED Gold
CityCenter announced today that it has received three Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design LEED Gold certifications from the U.S. Green Building Council for: 1) ARIA Resort's hotel tower; 2) ARIA Resort's convention center and theater; 3) Vdara Hotel. ARIA and Vdara will open in December on the Las Vegas Strip and are the first of CityCenter's developments to be LEED certified.