Aedas shared with us their design through a 28-storey mixed-use building which includes housing, offices, retail spaces and a car park. A design with efficient office floor plates and a rational box were requested by the client. With the edifice located in a municipality with dense industrial blocks, instead of providing another work tower entirely wrapped in a coolly glazed skin, the design investigates the possibility of providing an environmentally sustainable form in such an industrial property.

Kowloon Bay, once dependent on manufacturing, is undergoing transformation of rejuvenation. The target is to advertise a greening effect to the neighborhood and enhance the quality of life for users in the building being well as the pedestrians on the street level. With ‘green’ as the theme, the definitive design introduces extensive planting at the car park floors located at the lower element of the tower. In addition to the visually greening effect to the neighborhood, the planting also filters the air and improves the quality within the car park. Hopefully, the suspended particulates in the air incumbency be reduced and the design is able to provide car park users a more pleasant experience.

Its interior is bright, cozy and airy, featuring complicated terraced levels also a high, naturally lit ceiling. Glass sections strain across the walls and ceiling, even behind the bookshelves, letting light into the interior over filtered by the external fascia.  Thousands of bundled sticks, all reclaimed from the local environment, stretch across nearly every inch of the exterior.  On one for reds it forms a modern day programmatic supplement for the village with the help of just a little library and reading through space in the position of tranquil contemplation. No matter the viewpoint, whether you’re sitting inside or stare from a distance, the Liyuan Library is a spectacular work of architecture, one that could pass for a temple if it weren’t employed as a library.

WUHAO The Teahouse is a Beijing-based concept shop, founded upon the five elements of Chinese philosophy (fire, metal, water, wood, and earth) and showcasing the works of over 55 Chinese and international designers. Especially for Beijing Design Week, the company moved into the two-storey building in the city’s historic Dashilar district to host numbers of installations, including plastic yellow canaries disguised as growing lemons and an bent opening lined with green paper butterflies. The design retailer WUHAO  partnered with the socially responsible Chinese tea company Tranquil Tuesdays to display a new vision of this traditional space.

Designed by the GMP Architects, the Universiade Sports Center consists of a stadium, a multifunctional hall and a swimming pool. Universiades are World Games for students and are held every other year in winter and summer, hosted by the International University Sports Federation. The design for the Universiade Sports Center in the city of Shenzhen, China, is inspired by the surrounding undulating countryside and generates a formal dialog that references Chinese horticulture and temper toward the land.

The building rooftop projects up to 65m, and is designed as a steel prismatic shell on a basis of triangular facets. The crystalline frame of the three stadia is additionally emphasized by the lighting of the translucent facades at night. An artificial lake connects the stadium with the spherical multifunctional chamber in the north and the rectangular swimming hall west thereof. The main sports plaza is accessed via a raised promenade from the individual stadia. Total capacity is 60,000, seated in three stands. The diameter of the roof is 310m lengthways also 290 m across. The indoor sports complex is designed as a circular multifunctional scene for indoor sports competitions as well as for ice-skating also other events. The overall facility is approx. 18,000 spectators.

Bao’an Stadium- Visitors pass through the forest of steel supports into the first circulating area of the stadium. With a diameter of 230m besides cantilevering of 54m on each side of the stands, the roof is carried by 36 pairs of cables whose pretensioning is brought rational via a circular dual tension turbulence of strand-bundle cables above the pitch. Opened in August 2011, the stadium is designed to hold a capacity of 40,000 spectators.

Chinese architects Atelier 11 recently completed the spherical Diamond Arena in Beijing, China, which seats up to 15,000 spectators and will host international tennis matches. The dedicated China National Tennis Center is a 15,000-capacity stadium which is currently hosting the China Open 2011, starring world class players Jo-Wilfred Tsonga, Jurgen Melzer and Andy Roddick.

The edifice features a retractable steel roof of two parts that can be opened from either east or west to both shelter and shade the court inside. The Diamond Arena is so-called due to of its exterior shape and status in the Chinese sporting industry, ensconce sixteen sets of V-shaped columns acting as structural supports thanks to the grandstand and a striking visual display from an external perspective. To respond to varying weather conditions the steel roof project is collapsible, with the possibility to peel back to expose a 60m x 70m opening thorough which natural sunlight and heat can penetrate to decrease the building’s energy costs. The Diamond Arena’s roof has the largest opening scale in Asia and takes 12 minutes to fully extend. Seating for the 15,000 members is arranged in linear rows around the central court, with an observation deck on the seventh floor allowing visitors to enjoy 360° views across the neighboring Olympic Park.

Project details:
Site Area: 170,020 m2
Construction Area: 51,199 m2
Client: Beijing Shi Ao Co., ltd.
Design Director: Xu Lei
Design Team: Ding Liqun, Gao Qinglei, Lie Heng, An Peng

On Barbie’s fiftieth birthday, Mattel – the world’s largest toymaker, opened the  first store dedicated to the iconic doll in the world, in Shanghai, China. 3,300 m2 mega-Barbie store holds the world’s largest and most comprehensive collection of Barbie dolls and licensed Barbie products. Standing six stories tall, it glows neon pink and cost around 20 million pounds to build. Slade Architecture led the design including the exterior, interior, fixtures, and furnishings.

Kids in Beijing sure are lucky. The “Kid’s Republic” is a kid’s center with an innovative, playground design. Designed by SAKO Architects, “Kids” is considered as one of world’s best designed children’s bookstores. The design drives your kids crazy, it is so bright and colorful. This imaginative store mimics the look of a fantasyland with its elaborate use of color and fun design elements. Start with an all white bookstore interior – white floors, white ceiling, white walls, white stairs, white bookshelves, white everything – and to that liberally add rainbow colors all over it streams, twists and whirls throughout the store.

The store aims to provide children and parents with the very best children’s books, as well as a relaxing reading environment. There is a huge multi-language selection of kid’s books. More than 3,000 illustrated storybooks from Europe, America, Japan and China are on sale, including favorites such as The Very Hungry Caterpillar, The Giving Tree, and Badger’s Painting Gifts.

Located in the northwest of Guilin City, 5 km away from the city’ center, Reed Flute Cave is one of the most popular and most interesting tourist attractions in Guilin, China. According to a legend, the name of the cave is derived from ludi cao (reed grass), which grows in front of the cave and is used to make flutes with melodious sound. It is a natural limestone cave about 240 meters long and it was formed 600,000 years ago. The cave offers a majestic fairyland of karst caves with landscape and rural scenery. It is filled with a large number of stalactites, stalagmites and rock formations in weird and wonderful shapes.

When you enter the Reed Flute Cave, your eyes will be feasted with a magic fairyland of stone formations, such as stalactites, stalagmites, stone pillars, stone flowers, birds, stone mushroom and so forth, all illuminated by coloured lighting. The cave is divided into different parts. Some stone formations are like the human figures, some resemble the animals, some are similar to the famous flowers, and some look like the fruit and vegetables. What is more, pagodas, forest, fish, waterfall, canyon, peanut, carrot are all available here.

The cave served as a war refuge for many people during World War II and was opened to public in 1962. It is highly praised as the “Huge Art Palace of the Nature”. Famed as the Palace of Natural Art , the cave is now equipped with artificial lighting system to emphasize visual effect. More than just a random cave, the Reed Flute Cave is a Guilin top attraction that visitors should discover.  Recommended time for a visit: three hours.

Inspired by post-modern artwork from Salvador Dali, the Luxe Manor is located in the heart of Tsim Sha Tsui business, entertainment and cultural district, which is considered a destination of great glamour and action in Hong Kong. Only 300 metres from the Space Museum, this boutique hotel boasts fairytale-style interiors and European architecture. Entering inside in The Luxe Manor you will discover a delightfully eclectic mix of Oriental, Post-modern and European decor.

Situated in Taipei Songshan District, Taiwan, Core Pacific City is probably the weirdest shopping mall in Asia. When it first opened, it was touted as the world’s first truly 24 hour mall and Asia’s first “city within a city” complex. Covering a total area of 205, 000 sq. m, this urban property was designed by Jon Jerde, known as, the Pablo Picasso of the architecture world.

Opened in 2001, Living Mall is built in a design that combines an L-shaped building and the biggest globe structure in the world. The building looks like a gigantic golf ball being embraced by a stone sarcophagus. With a unique design, the mall has a total of nineteen floors – 12 above-ground stories and 7 underground levels. The sphere is 11 stories tall and made of granite imported from Finland, while the L-shaped portion is made of granite from Spain.

Designed by PAL Design Consultants, Oasis Club aims to be a haven for relaxation and rejuvenation for the people of the Chinese city of Chengdu. The city is known as “China‘s Party City” because of its growing numbers of bars and pubs, at times outgrowing Shanghai. Oasis Club is a private membership club mixes up contemporary suites of privacy, utter luxury, modernism and a sense of being in a universe theme park.

The top floor is VIP Spa zone with 8 luxurious spa treatment rooms for exclusive residents only. Each private room provides a mini theatre, Jacuzzi, sauna and steam room. The different areas within the spa each have their own mood, created using various colour palettes and lighting techniques. Treatment rooms have green and blue hues for a relaxing mood. With the décor of mosaic shell and pebble stones, it aims to create a private relaxation in the paradise, dreaming into a sea palace of the myth.

Copenhagen-based Holm Architecture Office in collaboration with Archiland Beijing, Kragh & Berglund landscape architects, and engineering consultants Cowi Beijing, has won first prize in a competition to design the Samaranch Memorial Museum. It will be situating in Tianjin, a city of over 12 million people near Beijing, in Northwestern China. Juan Antonio Samaranch was the president of the International Olympic Committee from 1980 to 2001. Throughout his presidency he advocated for reform and inclusion and was a strong supporter of China’s bid as host city for the 2008 Olympic Games.

Project Details:
Name: Samaranch Memorial Museum
Size: 25,000 sq. m  building, 100,000 sq. m landscape
Location: Tianjin, China
Status: Completion 2013
Architects: Holm Architecture Office
Collaborators: Archiland Beijing, Krag & Berglund, Cowi Beijing

Translates to “Chinese Flower Garden”, Yuwan Restaurant is a unique 5-star contemporary restaurant situated in Shenyang, China. Consists of separated area, it serves western and eastern fusion delicacies. Designed by architectural studio Nota design studio, the restaurant areas include the Main Dinning Hall, the Side Dinning Hall, three VIP rooms, Seafood Counter, Entrance Hall and Kitchen Zone.

 
In the main room you can view a detailed painting of an ancient Chinese city spanning over 30 feet long, and enjy lunch or dinner in an elegant, comfortable setting. For larger crowds, a sperate party room is available. The architects of this restaurant wanted to give more ethnic look so they utilized Chinese auspicious colors such as imperial yellow and red in the restaurant.

Architects: Nota Design Architects + Engineers Pte Ltd
Location: Shenyang, China
Design Consultant: Nota Design International Pte Ltd
Design Team: Keat Ong, Gary Zeng, Zhigang Sun
Client: Jin Xiang Yu Group
Project Area: 8 500 sq. m
Project Year: 2009

Featuring beautiful public green spaces and varied eco-landscapes, the city will be divided into seven distinct sectors – a Lifescape, an Eco-Valley, a Solarscape, an Urbanscape, a Windscape, an Earthscape and Eco-Corridors. Residents will also have good access to facilities like schools, socio-communal facilities, medical care, parks etc.

At the time of its completion, the 88-story, 420.5 meters -high Jin Mao Tower was China’s tallest building and the fifth tallest in the world. Until 2007 when its height was surpassed by the Shanghai World Financial Center, situated next to the building. Literally “Golden Prosperity Building”, this landmark skyscraper is located in mainland China, in Pudong district of Shanghai.

Designed by renowned architect Adrian D. Smith, Jin Mao Tower was completed in 1999. Soaring in 420.5 meters tall and covering an area of 2.3 hectares, the design of skyscraper combined the elements of traditional Chinese culture such as the tiered pagoda, with the newest architectural styles of the time. It is considered as one of the best-constructed buildings in China. The 88 floors are divided into 16 segments, each of which is 1/8 shorter than the 16-storey base. This building includes modern offices, a deluxe 5-star hotel – the Grand Hyatt Shanghai, exhibition halls, banquet halls, an observation deck, and entertainment facilities.

Project Facts
Site Area: 23,257 m2
Building Height: 420.5 m
Architect: Adrian D. Smith
Number of Stories: 88
Status: built
Construction dates: Began – 1994; finished – 1999
Building uses: mixed use including hotel, office, retail, observatory
Elevation count: 130
Architecture style: pagoda style
Materials: steel and concrete

 Project Awards
2001 • AIA • National Honor Award for Interior Architecture
2001 • AIA – Chicago Chapter • Divine Detail Award: Special Recognition
2001 • AIA – Chicago Chapter • Interior Architecture Award: Honor Award
2001 • World Architecture • World Architecture Award: Asia Category, Finalist
1999 • Institution of Structural Engineers • Structural Special Award
1998 • Structural Engineers Association of Illinois • Best Structure Award
1995 • ASHRAE – Illinois Chapter • Excellence in Engineering