Construction has begun at the last remaining empty sites in Chengdu’s Jiaozi Park Financial and Business District, where MVRDV has designed a complex comprised of three mixed-use office towers and a conference center united by a ring-shaped plinth. The building shape and functional structure are informed by its surrounding context, with a retail village that references the traditional structures that were once located on the site.
The three office towers, measuring 80, 100, and 130 meters in height, respectively, are displayed around the conference center and the open spaces in the middle of the site. The conference center, therefore, acts as the main focal point of the complex, with its distinctive image of cantilevered volumes and façade details inspired by the bamboo-weaving traditions of the region. A ring-shaped plinth encircles the four structures to define the interior courtyard. In the proximity of the conference center, the plinth steps down to the street level to create a visual connection and invite people to the center of the site. Additionally, three other access points are provided at different locations.
The central courtyard represents a modern reinterpretation of one- and two-storey buildings. The area is designed to reference the small traditional village that was present on site until the mid-2000s. The now-demolished structures are reimagined to serve as a retail village, featuring cafés, bars, and restaurants. The structures are proposed to be constructed from wood and recycled materials.
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MVRDV Transforms a Former Oil Refinery into an Energy-Neutral Cultural Park in Hangzhou, ChinaThe design of the three office towers was created to blend with their surroundings, while also integrating features to ensure the tower’s sustainability. A shadow study of the site identified the optimal orientation of the towers’ surfaces, allowing the design team to adapt the facades to limit solar gain. Vertical fins of the curtain-wall façade are employed for this purpose, while the back-side of these fins features openable panels to allow for user-controlled natural ventilation, thus reducing the need for mechanical cooling, which requires additional operational energy.
With the Jiaozi Courtyard Towers, we were given an opportunity that is rare in China: a design project that adds the final puzzle piece to a new district. It is hard to imagine that this entire district was still rural 20 years ago. We entered this competition during the pandemic and discovered the village via Google Earth. With that in mind, we decided to create within the stake and historic world. Seeing this while surrounded by three new towers, you become aware of the rapid transition that this place has gone through. - MVRDV founding partner Jacob van Rijs
Recently, MVRDV has been selected to lead the design of the Hangzhou Oil Refinery Factory Park, an extensive project aiming to transform the former industrial district into a cultural center set in a green environment. The office has also revealed the master plan of a new innovation park dedicated to artificial intelligence research in Heilbronn, Germany, and the plan for the expansion of the Noviotech Campus in the eastern Netherlands.
