U.K.-based Chetwoods Architects has revealed plans for a pair of skyscrapers that will be the tallest in the world when completed. The Phoenix Towers are expected to reach 1 km, the same height as Adrian Smith and Gordon Gill's Kingdom Tower, but would set a record for multiple towers in a single development, inhabitat reports.
The towers will be built on a 47-hectare island within a lake in Wuhan, China, the most populous city in central China. They are the focal point of Chetwood's four-pronged master plan for projects in China.
Outfitted with wind turbines, solar panels, thermal chimneys, and rainwater harvesting systems, the architects said that the towers will act as an "environmental catalyst" for the rest of the city.
On the towers' name and inspiration, the firm cites the traditional Chinese phoenix, which involves two birds: the male Feng and the female Huang.
"The plan was generated from yin-yang form to represent perfectly balanced union. Symbiotic: the Feng tower uses cutting edge technology to feed the Huang tower with renewable power," Chetwood Architects said in a statement.
More from the architects:
Arching bridge-like over the surrounding boulevards, each tower will have a unique personality and attributes: the Feng tower will lean towards the commercial zone, the Huang tower towards the cultural and recreational zone.
The project’s key emphasis is on the harmonious combination of 21st century Western technological know-how and experience with Chinese tradition and culture. In response to the Client’s wish to develop a new style of architecture that emphasizes Chinese identity, the use of a pair of towers reflects the dualist elements of Chinese culture in contrast to a more Western monolithic form.
The scheme will provide the environmental catalyst to re-invigorate the city, actively avoiding the disastrous consequences of developments elsewhere in China. It will form the nucleus of a wider green strategy linking Wuhan’s lakes environmentally and socially with the region’s landmark destinations and lake district along a 20km Green Wall of China to a new lakeside cultural tourist destination.
This landmark project will showcase social, economic and environmental sustainability within China, providing an entertaining and instructive experience for local people and visitors.
Structural features: Steel superstructure; concrete core with ‘hat’ truss; trussed structure at base; out-riggered for lateral stability; concrete buttresses.
Related Stories
| Apr 11, 2013
AIA selects recipients of its 2013 Small Project Awards
The American Institute of Architects (AIA) has selected the ten recipients of the 2013 Small Project Awards. The AIA Small Project Awards Program, now in its tenth year, was established to recognize small-project practitioners for the high quality of their work and to promote excellence in small-project design.
| Apr 11, 2013
Hal Henderson Appointed to HGA Board of Directors
HGA Architects and Engineers (HGA) has appointed Hal Henderson, AIA, to its Board of Directors for 2013. Henderson is vice president and director of the firm’s Rochester office.
| Apr 11, 2013
George W. Bush Presidential Center achieves LEED Platinum certification
The George W. Bush Presidential Center announced today it has earned Platinum certification by the U.S. Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design program. The Bush Center is the first presidential library to achieve LEED Platinum certification under New Construction.
| Apr 11, 2013
American Folk Art Museum, opened in 2001, to be demolished
Just 12 years old, the museum designed by Tod Williams and Billie Tsien will be taken down to make way for MoMA expansion.
| Apr 10, 2013
First look: University at Buffalo's downtown medical school by HOK
The University at Buffalo (UB) has unveiled HOK's dramatic design for its new School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences building on the Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus.