Archinect - News

UNStudio debuts K.Wah G72 mixed-use development in Nanjing

2023-04-25T13:58:00-04:00

UNStudio has just unveiled plans for another new mixed-use development project in the Chinese city of Nanjing.

Dubbed K.Wah G72, the scheme will enact what they call a “lifestyle waterfront community” space along the city’s Qinhuai River, with the new home of the UCCA Centre for Contemporary Art serving as its base surrounded by green terraces, a hotel, apartments, and office tower blocks that create a new hub for socializing and commercial activity.

Image courtesy UNStudio

Ben van Berkel, the studio’s founder and principal architect, shared: “The Nanjing K.Wah G72 mixed-use development will serve as a one-stop destination in which lifestyle, innovation and work are brought together. It aims to be a benchmark for newly integrated urban developments in Nanjing, across the country, and beyond.”

Image courtesy UNStudio

As always, UNStudio says sustainability will be the project’s central concern, adding that it will serve as a “landmark in sustainability and future-proof design in China....

Morphosis-designed conference center along Yangtze River opens in Nanjing Jiangbei New District, China

2021-12-17T17:34:00-05:00

LA-based international architecture and design firm Morphosis has announced the completion and opening of the Yangtze River International Conference Center in Nanjing Jiangbei New District, an emerging epicenter for global business in China.

Commissioned by Jiangbei New District of Nanjing City, the conference center represents a flagship project for the new district. It hopes to embody a charter for sustainable and ecologically-sensitive development while creating a world-class meeting and event venue for the region.

Image: Morphosis Architects/Tian Fangfang

The building borders the banks of the Yangtze River, the Jiangbei District, and the historic fabric of the Nanjing Metropolitan area. It simultaneously engages with its riverside site while hosting the future urban expansion of the region. The multi-use complex features a 36,000-square-meter (387,500-square-foot) conference space and is attached to a tower with a 340-room, four-star hotel that offers scenic views of the river....

Nanjing government pushes to restore more of the city's historic architecture

2017-08-09T17:30:00-04:00

"Over the last 20 years, the [Nanjing] government has made real efforts to establish national laws, local laws and regulations so we can pursue this work," [architect Zhou Qi] said, of his optimism for the city's heritage preservation efforts. "It has just become common sense."

Amid the rapid urban development across China, Nanjing's government is making an effort to preserve and restore more of the city's historic buildings. Although some restorative projects expectedly attract some criticism, architect Zhou Qi — who has worked on restoring over 100 of the city's historic structures — seems optimistic about these ongoing changes.

“It appears that government protection, not economic forces, has kept the bulldozers at bay,” Charles Musgrove, an associate history professor and author of “China's Contested Capital: Architecture, Ritual, and Response in Nanjing”, tells CNN.

The "tectonic bravery" of NBBJ's Nanjing Eco-Tech Exhibition Centre

2017-05-18T14:11:00-04:00

Symbolizing mountain ranges in architecture has the potential for a dramatic, iconic payoff, especially when the materials used to do so play an integral role in the interior experience of the building (think: the fabric peaks of the Denver International Airport, which allude to the Rocky Mountains and Native American settlements while providing ample natural light). NBBJ's Nanjing Eco-Tech Exhibition Centre manages not only to reference the Zhong and Stone Mountains with its eight-peaked, light cannon rooftop, but also represent the economic ascension of Nanjing itself.

Each peak drives light through the four principal floors of the structure, weaving instances of what the architects describe as "tectonic bravery" throughout. This bravery becomes the signature characteristic of the structure. While the Exhibition Centre lists a typical compliment of sustainable 21st century amenities (roof garden, integrated water retention and distribution, natural ventilation, responsive facades,...

Stefano Boeri to Build Asia's First "Vertical Forest"

2017-02-03T12:25:00-05:00

The Nanjing Green Towers designed by Stefano Boeri will become the first “Vertical Forest” built in Asia, according to a press release. Following the prototype of towers built in Milan, the two towers designed for Nanjing Pukou District comprise the “interchange of green tanks and balconies”.

600 tall trees, 500 medium-sized trees, and 2,500 plants and shrubs will cover the façade. It is, according to the architects, a “real vertical forest” capable of regenerating local biodiversity. The building will capture 25 tons of CO2 per year and produce about 60kg of oxygen per day.

The first tower—the taller of the two—will include a museum, a “green architecture” school and a private club. The second tower, which is 108 meters tall, will contain a Hyatt Hotel with a rooftop pool.

As an essay by Mark Minkjan for Failed Architecture once noted, these sort of green towers “never come to look as lavish as they are projected”. Plants have trouble surviving the smog and high winds present at such...

Developer of SOM-designed Nanjing skyscraper found guilty of depriving nearby residents of precious sunlight

2015-12-08T13:40:00-05:00

The developers of the 450-meter high Zifeng Tower in Nanjing have been found guilty of robbing the surrounding neighborhood of precious sunshine, and will have to compensate residents accordingly. [...] The 89-story Zifeng Tower was designed by American architectural firm Skidmore, Owings and Merrill. It is the tallest building in Nanjing, fourth tallest in China and 12 tallest in the world.

Steven Holl Architects presents two new films with Spirit of Space on the Sifang Art Museum

2014-03-11T15:39:00-04:00

Perhaps you remember Spirit of Space's Art in the City film from back in summer of 2013, meditating on the interplay between city life and public art in Chicago. More recently, the architectural film-making creative agency produced two short films showcasing Steven Holl's work for the Sifang Art Museum in Nanjing, China. SOS has previously worked with Steven Holl on five film pieces, featuring his work in both China and the U.S.

The films follow SOS's tried-and-true style -- one with Holl explaining to the camera his design choices, interspersed with languishing shots of the now-open museum:

Sifang Art Museum: A Conversation with Steve Holl

...and a second, more contemplative film that in turn dwells on the architecture itself:

Sifang Art Museum

Sifang Art Museum - designed by 22 architects including Wang Shu, SANAA, Adjaye, Holl - opens its first exhibition

2013-11-06T19:12:00-05:00

China's wealthy patrons like Mr. Lu's family are underwriting a major cultural boom, spending billions of yuan on grand buildings to showcase impressive collections of art, antiques and other cultural rarities. Their largesse and ambitions echo American industrialists who sponsored the arts in the early years of the 20th century...

Recently in The Wall Street Journal, reporter Jason Chow interviewed real-estate developer Lu Jun and his son Lu Xun who finally opened the Sifang Art Museum for its first exhibition this past weekend in Nanjing, China after 10 years of construction.

Spearheaded by Lu Jun and curated by architects Liu Jiakun and Arato Isozaki, the $164 million project consists of 11 mixed-use buildings designed by an international mix of well-known architects including Wang Shu, SANAA, David Adjaye, Mathias Klotz, Steven Holl, and artist Ai Weiwei (the only non-architect). Three more buildings are expected to be completed within the next year.

During a rising cultural trend of private museums owned by China's wealthiest patrons, Lu Jun, his son, and some of the museum's architects describe the doubts, challenges, and hopes in the construction and operation of the ambitious project.

You can read the entire article here or the multimedia website.

Photos by Qilai Shen. "Light Box" photo co...

Sifang Art Museum

2013-08-27T17:50:00-04:00

Hard by the Yangtze River, ten miles from Nanjing, a giant, glowing hollowed-out trapezoid hovers above the trees. The otherworldly Sifang Art Museum, designed by the American architect Steven Holl, [...] an edgy sign of the ancient city’s rapid modernization.

Nanjing Lab by Yaohua Wang Architecture

2011-11-23T15:17:08-05:00

Yaohua Wang, of Los Angeles firm Yaohua Wang Architecture, has sent us visualizations of proposed Nanjing Lab, a vegetation laboratory in Nanjing, China. The project was comissioned by the Nanjing Xiaguan district goverment and is currently within the schematic design phase.

Sifang Art Museum gets a web presence

2011-07-19T17:20:00-04:00

Steven Holl's Sifang Art Museum will be opening in Nanjing, China, in November of this year. In the mean time they have launched a pretty site with some nice alternating photographs of the building. Check it out.

Steven Holl Completes Green-Roofed Nanjing Museum of Art & Architecture

2011-04-19T13:17:00-04:00

Steven Holl just completed construction on his much anticipated Museum of Art & Architecture in Nanjing. The museum celebrates Chinese art and architecture and is based on the Chinese theory of 'parallel perspectives' -- it explores shifting viewpoints and layers in space, while taking advantage atmospheric mists and surrounding water. Green design, recycled materials and energy-efficient geothermal heating and cooling play a large role in the museum's design.