Archinect - News

Zaha Hadid Architects continues work on Chengdu's 'Unicorn Island' tech hub

2024-12-17T09:35:00-05:00

Zaha Hadid Architects (ZHA) has updated their progress on the Unicorn Island tech hub development in Chengdu, China. The 165.5-acre project delivers worker housing and office/research space for 70,000. Buildings are arranged in clusters and established "organically" along a radial distribution since the project began completing its first buildings in January 2020. The master plan is located in the Tianfu New Area. The firm also completed work on the Chengdu Science Fiction Museum in the city last October.

Zaha Hadid Architects' new Chengdu Science Fiction Museum has opened in China

2023-10-24T17:41:00-04:00

Zaha Hadid Architects has shared photos and a video to coincide with this month's inauguration of its new Chengdu Science Fiction Museum project in China.

The culmination of the firm’s now 15-year-long foray into the country that has produced multiple science and cultural sector designs in addition to the new Beijing Daxing International Airport complex has yielded an over 635,000-square-foot structure replete with a variety of flexible interior spaces meant to showcase the region’s extraordinary contributions to the literary genre and located in the heart of Chengdu’s Science & Innovation New City Pidu district.

Photo: Lan Dongjie

The firm says the project is designed to emulate a nebula constellation with a star at its center, allowing visitors to embark from within a ‘star cloud’ that disperses energy directionally into different zones housing its various programmatic elements.

Photo: Arch-Exist

Inside, a skylit central atrium welcomes users into the museum experi...

MVRDV begins construction on Chengdu scheme inspired by bamboo-weaving traditions

2023-06-16T11:48:00-04:00

Construction has commenced on the MVRDV-designed Chengdu Jiaozi Courtyard Towers in the city’s financial district. The mixed-use complex comprises three office towers and a conference center sitting atop a ring-shaped plinth, with an architectural language that “recalls the traditional structures once located on the site.”

Image credit: Atchain

The three offers towers measure 262, 328, and 426 feet in height, respectively, and each occupies a corner of the square site. Below, the conference center serves as the “eye-catching addition to the site’s most prominent corner,” with a large cantilever and facade details inspired by the region’s bamboo-weaving traditions.

Image credit: Atchain

In contrast to the square arrangement of the towers and conference center, the base of the ensemble sees a ring-shaped connecting plinth creating a round courtyard. Located adjacent to the conference center, the plinth steps down to street level to “welcome people to the center of the site.”

Image credi...

Zaha Hadid Architects reveals Chengdu Science Fiction Museum design in Sichuan Province

2023-01-26T18:57:00-05:00

The next major cultural project from Zaha Hadid Architects has been revealed after the firm published the first images of its under-construction Chengdu Science Fiction Museum to coincide with the announcement that it will play host to the Hugo Awards later this year.

In the form of a solar nebula, the 59,000-square-meter (635,000-square-foot) museum is designed for maximal programmatic flexibility with the intention of “creating a journey of discovery that weaves between indoor and outdoor plazas at multiple levels.”

Rendering: Atchain, image courtesy ZHA

A skylit central atrium holds the key to the interior design, with gallery spaces, a large theater, and concert hall emanating from its node. Finally, the museum’s hybrid ventilation system combines with a roof canopy array of photovoltaics to help the project attain the maximum 3-star rating achievable under the Chinese Green Building Program.

Rendering: Atchain, image courtesy ZHA

Rendering: ...

MIT research finds that commuting distances are standard regardless of city size

2023-01-03T11:24:00-05:00

Researchers from the MIT Senseable City Lab have produced a series of maps visualizing commuting habits across Chinese cities. Titled Potato Project, the study used mobile phone location data from 50 million individuals across 234 cities to understand commuting patterns between a person’s home and work locations.

Image credit: MIT Senseable City Lab

The research project was launched in response to the group’s observation that despite the significant increase in the size of cities over decades, commuting distances and times in larger cities have remained stable versus smaller cities. “The conserved commuting properties are quite counter-intuitive,” the team notes, “as the distance from the periphery to the urban center in larger cities is obviously greater than that in medium- or small-sized cities.”

Image credit: MIT Senseable City Lab

With little existing large-scale modeling on the subject, the researchers analyzed the mobile phone location data to better understand the similarities...

The world's first renewable energy-powered, glass-bottomed sky train unveiled in Chengdu

2021-07-12T18:20:00-04:00

Touted as the world’s first renewable energy-powered, suspended sky train, a new transportation system has been unveiled in Chengdu, the capital city of China’s southwest Sichuan Province.

Photo: CCTV

The project, titled the Dayi Air Rail Project, is a first-of-its-kind demonstration line, approximately seven miles in length and featuring an aerial-suspended train that uses lithium battery packs as traction power. The project was primarily developed by Zhongtang Air Rail Technology Co Ltd.

Photo: CCTV

The train offers 270-degree views through generous floor-to-ceiling glass paneling on three sides, along with a glass bottom. The train is made of lightweight carbon fiber and composite foaming materials, which greatly reduces its weight. In a nod to its hometown, the cars are painted to resemble a panda, paying homage to Chengdu, the home of China’s panda breeding program. Each train car has a maximum capacity of 120 people per car and can travel up to 50 miles per hour.

Photo: ...

The "Loop of Wisdom" combines recreation with exhibition in Chengdu, China

2020-10-19T12:54:00-04:00

Powerhouse Company's design for a new technology museum and reception center in Chengdu, China combines recreation with thoughtful exhibition. Conceived as a continuous ring, the Loop of Wisdom embodies an organic and geometric archetype of fluidity and flexibility.

The new museum and reception center are part of chip manufacturer and real estate specialist Uni-Hiku's new development, Unis Chip City.

Unique to the design is the introduction of a recreational walking and running path along the top of the loop structure. "While spectacular museums and reception centers are quite common in China, we wanted to create an icon that people can actually explore and use," said Nanne de Ru, founder at Powerhouse Company in a statement.

The rooftop walkway measures 698 meters around and rises 25 meters from its ground level access, offering panoramic views of the surrounding landscape and distant mountains. Its surface is rubber asphalt, making it suitable for runners and those walking.

Above...

When green architecture gets too green

2020-09-16T13:09:00-04:00

An experimental green housing project in a Chinese megacity promised prospective residents life in a "vertical forest", with manicured gardens on every balcony. [...] The problem? The mosquitoes love the plants, too. [...] Without any tenants to care for them, the eight towers have been overrun by their own plants - and invaded by mosquitoes.

Zaha Hadid Architects' Unicorn Island masterplan in Chengdu takes shape

2020-01-21T09:00:00-05:00

Zaha Hadid Architects' 67-hectare “Unicorn Island” masterplan in Chengdu is slowly beginning to take shape with the near-completion of its first building, a start-up exhibition and conference center.

The masterplan's catchy name “Unicorn Island” might make it sound like some sort of utopian theme park at first, but the name is a reference to the multitude of $1 billion-worth “unicorn” tech start-up companies that operate in China.

Aerial view of Unicorn Island masterplan. Rendering: Zaha Hadid Architects & Negativ.

Located in Chengdu's evolving Tianfu New Area, the mixed-use project will provide living and working environments designed to enhance the well-being of some 70,000 researchers, office staff, residents, and visitors, according to ZHA.

Rendering: MIR.

Its design was influenced by the region's historic natural engineering projects, like the nearby UNESCO-designated Dujiangyan irrigation system and the contemporary hydraulic engineering that is re-establishing T...

Chinese city to launch artificial moon into space. What could possibly go wrong?

2018-10-29T19:13:00-04:00

It might sound like a plot cooked up by a cartoon villain, but a city in southwestern China is aiming to launch into space an artificial moon that could replace streetlights by bathing the ground in a “dusk-like glow.” [...] the satellite’s mirror-like exterior would reflect sunlight down to Earth, creating a glow about eight times brighter than the moon. The artificial moon, which he said would orbit about 500 kilometers above Earth, could save $174 million in electricity from streetlights.

The capital of China's Sichuan province, Chengdu, could have its own illumination satellite 'moon' up in the skies by 2020, according to the People's Daily.

Light pollution, and its documented health effects on humans and nocturnal wildlife, doesn't seem to be much of a concern to the officials behind the audacious space-mirror scheme. As Kang Weimin, Director of the Institute of Optics, School of Aerospace at Harbin Institute of Technology, attempts to reassure: "The light of the satellite is similar to a dusk-like glow, so it should not affect animals’ routines." – Okay, we're all cool.

Largest building in the world opens in China – complete with indoor seaside

2013-07-10T12:40:00-04:00

A 100m tall cliff-face of blue mirrored glass, stretching 500m along a triumphal plaza, the New Century Global Centre houses an entire seaside resort, along with a 14-screen Imax cinema, Olympic-sized ice rink, two five-star hotels and its own Mediterranean shopping village – all wrapped with a vast ribbon of offices. Sprawling for 1.7m square metres, it could fit 20 Sydney Opera Houses beneath its glass roof.

FUKSAS wins Chengdu Tianfu Cultural and Performance Centre competition

2012-12-20T14:12:00-05:00

Massimiliano and Doriana Fuksas have won the international competition for the construction of the first cultural center in the city of Chengdu. This city is the capital of Sichuan province and was hit by a terrible earthquake in 2008.

Studio Fuksas has other projects still going on in China and precisely in Shenzhen: the Guosen Tower and the Terminal 3 of the Bao'an International Airport that will be completed by next summer. Besides these projects Studio FUKSAS is preparing to realize this new one in the People’s Republic of China whose worth is 1 billion and 200 million yuan (150 million euro). The cultural complex consists of four buildings of elliptical shape with a spiral structure. The design concept is inspired by ancient symbol of the city of Chengdu (a circle with a sun with rays spiral) and demonstrates the willingness of the Chinese community to look at the future, focusing on art and culture.

The project of Massimiliano and Doriana Fuksas was conceived as a ...

LEVENBETTS: If you dig a hole deep enough…

2011-10-11T17:01:33-04:00

If you dig a hole deep enough... is an installation by New York architects LEVENBETTS for The Solutions, the 2011 Chengdu Arts and Design Biennial, currently running through October 30 in Chengdu, Sichuan Province, China. The impetus for LEVENBETTS' installation was the children’s adage in America that says that if you dig a hole in the ground deep enough you will emerge on the other side of the earth in China.

Egg on whose face?

2011-05-10T22:53:40-04:00

"People paid a lot of attention to these buildings because they cost too much money - money that should have been used where it was needed most," said resident Xu Linli as she walked home from work past the controversial office complex.

In 2004, French architect Paul Andreu - who designed Beijing's stunning egg-shaped national theatre, won the right to design a new office complex for Chengdu government officials. Two months after the move began, the Sichuan earthquake, whose epicentre was just north of Chengdu, left 90,000 people dead or missing. The idea of officials moving into luxurious new offices as others were struggling to survive was a situation that soon drew public criticism. So, city leaders promised to sell their new offices after the Sichuan earthquake. Yet as Michael Bristow discovered the building has still not been completely abandoned by city officials.