London-based architecture firm PLP has revealed plans for a mixed-use complex in China's Pearl River Delta. Nexus is an investigation for 'an alternative to the high-rise point tower typology', explain the architects.
The scheme comprises four different functions; a 600m office and hotel tower within the Nexus Building; the performing arts complex Platform for Contemporary Arts; the 300m-high Lizhi Park office tower; and the Concourse, a large scale retail and leisure facility that brings all the above together in a single sweep.
The team aimed for flexibility and variation in the overall form and function, so this complex is composed of different elements – there's three tall volumes of different heights, ranging from 44 to 124 storeys high. The way the structures are engineered also helps challenge the norm.
'The centre-core high-rise office is one of the most wide-spread and recognisable urban typologies. Yet in spite of this, their interior spaces are increasingly unsuitable for today's collaborative work. Their outer envelopes mask rather than broadcast inner life,' says PLP's Andrei Martin. 'Our Nexus building proposes a different typology where floorplates offer qualities unprecedented for a high-rise. Because there is no central core, everyone can see each other. And because each floorplate is shaped as a bar, there is light on both sides, cross-ventilation, and an overall atmosphere constantly shaped by the environment outside.'
Environmental measures include the buildings' broken down geometry, which is angled according to the area's sun and wind orientation in order to control heat, and a large water element on the base of the complex, which helps cool down the area, lowering the overall temperature.
The scheme consists of four parts – an office and hotel, an arts structure, a dedicated office-only wing and a lower volume that links all functions through a retail and leisure plinth. Image: Tegmark
The team aimed for flexibility and variation in the overall form and function, so this complex is composed of different elements – there’s three tall volumes of different heights, ranging from 44 to 124 storeys high. Image: Luxigon
INFORMATION
For more information, visit PLP's website
-
‘Irving Penn: Centennial’ offers an unparalleled look at the seminal American photographer’s oeuvreA new retrospective in A Coruña, Spain celebrates the meticulous grandeur of Irving Penn, spanning fashion editorial, still-life, nudes and portraiture across seven decades
-
Inside Luna Luna: the amusement park designed by artists lands in New York‘Luna Luna: Forgotten Fantasy’ – featuring rides by Basquiat, Lichtenstein, Hockney, Haring, and Dalí – has opened at The Shed
-
Why champagne pairs beautifully with fine foodMaison Krug unites champagne with decadent cuisine in the latest edition of its ‘Single Ingredient’ adventure, in collaboration with globally renowned Michelin-starred chefs who enhance the flavours and aromas of Krug Grande Cuvée or Krug Rosé
-
Raw, refined and dynamic: A-Cold-Wall*’s new Shanghai store is a fresh take on the industrial lookA-Cold-Wall* has a new flagship store in Shanghai, designed by architecture practice Hesselbrand to highlight positive spatial and material tensions
-
Sun Tower is a new Chinese cultural attraction that draws on the celestial cycleSun Tower, an imaginative cultural attraction by Open Architecture, draws on the natural cycle and has just opened in China's seaside town of Yantai
-
The Suzhou visitor centre in China is a perfect balance of contemporary innovation and cultural identityThe Suzhou visitor centre in China is designed by Tsing-Tien Making, a studio that designs to preserve cultural identity
-
Architectural Association's newest show uncovers the architectural legacies of rural China's lost generationThe Architectural Association’s ‘Ripple Ripple Rippling’ is not your typical architecture show, taking an anthropological look at the flux between rural and urban, and bringing a part of China to Bedford Square in London
-
Private museum Simple Design Archive is a ‘poetic sound sanctuary’ in ChinaSimple Design Archive, located in China’s Anhui province, is a private museum by HAS Design and Research, fostering a contemplative environment
-
Neri & Hu’s dynamic New Bund theatre takes centre stage in Shanghai’s cityscapeIn Shanghai, Neri & Hu’s New Bund 31 Performing Arts Center is a theatre offering a contemporary take on a classical archetype
-
Wallpaper* Architects’ Directory 2024: meet the practicesIn the Wallpaper* Architects Directory 2024, our latest guide to exciting, emerging practices from around the world, 20 young studios show off their projects and passion
-
Tsing-Tien Making's approach is rooted in its 'passion' for architectureTsing-Tien Making, a young Chinese practice, joins the Wallpaper* Architects’ Directory 2024
