Chinese architectural firm MAD has started work on an ambitious new project that aims to add some nature to inner-city Beijing. The Chaoyang Park Plaza comprises commercial, office, and residential buildings – all of which feature a degree of sustainable technology – and MAD hopes to achieve LEED Gold-certification once the project is completed in 2016.
Chaoyang Park Plaza is being built next to one of Beijing's largest public parks, and the plot measures roughly 3 hectares (7.6 acres). MAD drew upon traditional Chinese landscape paintings for inspiration, and the project is dominated by a large pair of asymmetrical towers which rise to 120 m (393 ft) in height and are intended to invoke rugged mountains. These are surrounded by four office buildings which resemble river stones, and there are also two large residential buildings elsewhere in the grounds.
Sustainable technology name-checked by MAD includes natural lighting, an innovative air purification system, and a passive ventilation system that appears to be integrated into the facade of the buildings.
Alas, finer details are still lacking at this early stage, but the renders depict a green and futuristic complex, and the firm states a strong desire to bring the experience of being in a forest into Beijing – no mean feat in a sprawling city blighted by much-publicized air pollution issues.
Source: MAD via Arch Daily