NANHE RIVER BRIDGE BY WXY ARCHITECTURE

WXY has teamed up with Weidlinger Associates Inc., a prominent structural engineering firm, to design four landscape bridges in Xinjin County, China.

For the Nanhe River Landscape Bridge, the team’s winning design approach was to create a vision that evokes the flow of the river. Like a main path in a great park, the journey across the bridge should be an experience unto itself.

The undulating curves of the bridge reflect the waves of the river at the heart of Xinjin. The helical bridge is held up by five multi-limbed supports, increasing the current spacing for watercraft and other recreational uses of the river.

The two intertwined ribbons also serve a practical purpose by greatly expanding the capacity of the bridge to allow it to keep pace with Xinjin’s future growth.

For residents and visitors, the riverfront esplanades on both sides of the river provide important places to view and access the river. Springing seamlessly from these esplanades, the intertwined spans of the Nanhe River Landscape Bridge extend the park-like experience across the river itself.

The complex form of the bridge is derived from the linear extrusion of a simple steel box girder; its clear red color will resonate against the grey blue colors of Xinjin's hillside landscape.

The bridge design provides a strong iconic image while making an exciting space to walk and overlook Xinjin.

The sinuous curves of the Nanhe River Landscape Bridge emulate this body of water while simultaneously channeling the centuries-long tradition of Chinese landscape bridges. Thus a contemporary symbol of Xinjin is born that draws inspiration from the city's most timeless qualities.

Location: Xinjin County, China

Architect: WxyArchitecture + urban design

Structure: Weidlinger Associates Inc.

Year:2010

CHONGQING GREENLAND CLUBHOUSE BY PURE DESIGN

As feature of Chongqing traditional residence, pitched roof is considered into building design.

The building just like a boat setting sail while the sight from hillside and a delicate jewel box when the sight from the river. The widely space inside also with nice view.

The building with grand and attractive appearance will lead customer into delight psychological experience between active and quite.

The interior design is very clear, exhibition area is designed on the first floor, offices are arranged on the basement, with a good organization of function system make circulation more reasonable.

Hipped-plate roof with mountain shape of commercial club house can harmonize with terrain surround.

There will be different view scenic and interesting while people walk around the building space.

 

Location: Chongqing, China 
Architect:PURE Design 
Year: 2012

SKYWALK ON TIANMEN MOUNTAIN

Jutting out from a sheer cliff 1,430 meters high, the glass skywalk in Zhangjiajie National Forest Park offers sightseers terrifying thrills and clear view of the mountains below as they tread nervously across the 60 meter long bridge encircling the vertical cliffs of Tianmen Mountain in Hunan province.

The walkway, made of tempered glass about 2.5 in thick, spans 200 ft of a two-km loop encircling the vertical cliffs of Tianmen Mountain in China’s Hunan province, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

The Tianmen mountain, literally translated as Heavenly Gate Mountain is so called because of a huge natural cave that occurs halfway up to the summit. Looking down between their feet while on the see-through skywalk, visitors have a crystal-clear view of the rocky ravine beneath them.

The walkway joins the west cliff at the Yunmeng Fairy Summit, the summit of Tianmen Mountain and Zhang Jiajie. “Tourists can walk, run or even jump on the walkway as the fence and planks are all tempered glass,” said Tian Huilin, deputy general manager at the tourism office of the Tianmen Mountain Scenic Spot.

“The experience is unique. Tourists can have a bird’s-eye view of the rocky pinnacles rising from a cover of dense subtropical vegetation and sometimes veiled by clouds through glass.

” Walking on the glass section of the walkway can make your heart beat like a drum but it is an experience you wont forget. Environmentalists, however, have criticised the project, saying the overhang would tarnish the pristine mountain.

“The glass road is odd compared with the ancient plank roads, which appear to be made of stone or wood and are more harmonious with the landscape,” said Wang Yanyong.

He added that innovation should not go against the basic natural and cultural context. Do you dare to take up the glass skywalk challenge? I will be honest. I won’t dare. My head will go giddy and I may throw up as I have a fear of heights.

XIANGSHAWAN DESERT LOTUS HOTEL BY PLAT ARCHITECTS

Lotus Hotel is located in Xiangshawan Desert, 800 kilometers west to Beijing and middle of Ordos and Baotou. The site is facing Hantai River, a branch of Yellow River, and east to Kubuqi Desert that more than 200 kilometers wide.

Due to the restriction by its special geographic condition, PLaT Architects invented a new structural system that fix in fluid sands using only steel panels without the help of concrete or water.

The panels and the supporting skeleton structures are pre-fabricated, and make the base of the building a large container for sands. Thus, the steel panel structure can function as a boat floating on desert that carries the building.

The sands in and out of the structure exert same forces to each other, and thus it is flexibly stabilized. Also, walls are load-bearing structures in order to reduce the pressure on base.

Moreover, architects use local materials in interior design so that people get full experience of desert in Lotus Hotel. For instance, through a series of experiments, they managed to invent a wall-covering material that is made of sands from local desert.

The form of Lotus Hotel not only blends in the desert, but also exhibits a power of the environment and itself. Architects used the traditional Chinese idea of “Zhen”, which is, in simple words, the art of repeating same elements.

Rotation of squares in a same angle creates triangles in the process, and made the form stronger. In consideration of structure, shading and wind, architects integrated function, form and landscape, resulting in a form of lotus.

Lotus Hotel is only a part of Xiangshawan Desert planning. There will be more such as sustainable tourism in desert, and developing more desert architecture.

PLaT Architects is targeting for net-zero sustainable architecture that generates electricity and water in its own system enough for supply.

 









Location: Xiangshawan Desert, China

Architects: PLaT Architects

Completion Date: March, 2013

Area: 30,000 sqm

Photographs: Courtesy of PLaT Architects

SKY COURTS BY HOWELER + YOON ARCHITECTURE

Sky Courts is a 20,000 sqf corporate club house that incorporate short-term housing, office space, and entertainment facilities utilizing the logics of the courtyard and sloped roof.

The project packs several courtyards into a defined perimeter and utilizes the sloped roof to accommodate program in the wedge between courtyards, allowing the project to read as 100% courtyard from above.

The complex lacks a single center; instead it is a network with multiple centers, and multiple paths, edges and liners.

The sequence through these precincts creates a series of layered spaces that line exterior spaces, and views from one courtyard might look through perimeter spaces and into other courtyards.

The layering of interiors and exteriors creates a varied sequence through the complex. The roof geometry consists of a series of inward sloping roofs.

The roof profile varies to create the impression of a landscape of peaks and valleys. The alternating inclinations of the major ridge lines produce a varied roofscape and cause the roof planes to twist.

By maintaining a constant eave line and varying the perimeter, each plane on the roof is a hyperbolic ruled surface.

The use of a ceramic tile uses the gap between units as well as the fine grain of the tile, to absorb the non planar roof condition.

The ceramic tile, with a built in capacity to absorb tolerance between units aggregates to produce a twisting roofscape configuration.

The project exploits a specific building material to achieve a larger geometrical effect.

Location: Chengdu, China
Architects: Höweler + Yoon Architecture

Area: 20,000 sq ft

Year: 2012
Photographs: Yihuai Hu, Courtesy of Höweler + Yoon Architecture