Dutch architect MVRDV has won a competition to design two buildings for Tianfu Software Park in Chengdu, central China. One is a 150m-tall office tower that will be the centrepiece for the development, the other is a four-storey cultural centre.
The tower is shaped to optimise the efficiency of the floorplates and maximise views of the mountains to the east.
One corner will house a full-height atrium that functions as a climate and ventilation system, and is filled with cascading greenery. This is open at its base and merges with a shopping podium that is enclosed by a mesh façade.
The cultural centre will contain an art museum, a conference hall and a library and exhibition space. It has a sloped exterior, allowing visitors to climb to its green roof and access the terraced interior.
Winy Maas, MVRDV’s co-founder, said: “In our designs for both office tower and cultural centre, the atrium is key.
“Though they take different forms – one more vertical and the other terraced and traversable – both serve the same functions. They bring in greenery, they connect the buildings from bottom to top, they provide the shading and ventilation that make the buildings sustainable, and most importantly, they make these buildings exciting, social places to be.”
Tianfu Software Park will be located in the Chengdu High-tech Industrial Development Zone. It is being developed in four phases by the municipal government’s Chengdu High-tech Investment Group, and will cover 220ha. These latest buildings will be part of the second phase.
The park will be a base for software development and the service outsourcing industry.
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