Chengdu: The Latest Architecture and News

With much awaited anticipation, Steven Holl‘s Sliced Porosity Block in Chengdu, China has just been completed. Forming giant public plazas with a mix of various functions, the group of five towers is intended to be seen as more of a public area despite its towering design as already witnessed in the site. Its sun sliced geometry results from required minimum daylight exposures to the surrounding urban fabric prescribed by code and calculated by the precise geometry of sun angles. The large public space framed by the block is formed into three valleys inspired by a poem of Du Fu (713-770). In some of the porous openings chunks of different buildings are inserted.

We have already brought you images of the project as it was under way, but the latest images from Hufton + Crow truly capture this inviting public realm in the heart of this metropolis like no one else!

Check out all the latest images of Steven Holl’s Sliced Porosity Block after the break.

KSP Jürgen Engel Architekten recently won the international competition entitled “Blue Sky Building Project” for the Air China headquarters in the major west Chinese city of Chengdu. With its design for the high-rise, the international team from Frankfurt/Main and Beijing headed by Johannes Reinsch, Managing Director of KSP Jürgen Engel Architekten, saw off five other entries. The office boasts a gross surface area (GSA) of 124,000 m² and offers space for a total of 5,470 workspaces. The fact that the high-rise design should serve as a role model with regard to energy efficiency and sustainability is of major concern to the developer. More images and architects’ description after the break.

The Sliced Porosity Block—the Raffles City development designed by Steven Holl Architects in Chengdu—celebrates its topping out at 123 meters. Located just south of the intersection of the First Ring Road and Ren Min Nan Road, the 3 million square feet mixed-use complex consists of five towers with offices, apartments, retail, a hotel, cafes, and restaurants. More images and complete press release after the break.

The emergence of China on the global economic stage has been discussed at nauseum in myriad publications. But this emergence has had an impact on the world of architecture, providing a testing ground where architects can experiment with new ideas about sustainability and urban growth. These new ideas have been realized in recently completed structures, and more are just beginning construction or have been proposed for the future. More on these new buildings after the break.

Designed by Chengdu Urban Design Research Center, the “Southern Island of Creativity” is the start-up phase land of the Eastern New Town which endeavors to develop creative industry and is one of the 13 strategic function zones of future Chengdu, China. The Eastern New Town consists of three “Islands” based on their varied topography. The southern one is located in hallow hills, which stands adjacent to the art village which came into being spontaneously. The design team for this project consisted of architects Liu Gang, Zhang Yang, Yu Jia, Lan Mi, and Xu Xin. More images and architects’ description after the break.

Signaling the growing influence of China’s inland cities, global architecture, engineering and urban design practice RTKL, announced the groundbreaking of the first phase of Pearl River New Town, an 80-acre district in Chengdu that will form the heart of the city’s westward growth and modernization. More images and architect’s description after the break.