Visiting Beijing's massive Chaoyang Park Plaza will be like 'moving through a urban forest'

The plans for Chaoyang Park Plaza were floated two years ago by MAD architects, and now the design is taking shape.

Located in Beijing's central business district, the massive development was designed with its surroundings in mind, meant to illustrate the relationship between architecture and the natural environment, DesignBoom reports.

Chaoyang Park Plaza is one of Beijing's largest green spaces, and the plaza is locate at the edge. Containing 120,000 square meters of commercial, residential, and office buildings, the plaza is envisioned as a modern, urban forest.

Visitors will have the feeling of moving through a forest, based on the spatial organization of the plaza.

The focal point of the new development will be a pair of asymmetrical towers, covered with ridges and valleys, as a partially eroded mountain.

The ridges are actually a part of an advanced ventilation and filtration system that pulls air inside. These towers are connected by a 17-meter tall lobby. A rooftop garden will top the lobby.

All renderings courtesy of MAD architects.

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