A group of buildings in Beijing’s central business district designed by Ma Yansong’s MAD Architects has been completed as an "expansion of nature" inspired by traditional Chinese landscape and ink paintings.
The 220,000 sq m Chaoyang Park Plaza is positioned on the southern edge of Beijing’s Chaoyang Park and contains 10 buildings. The asymmetrical twin office towers on the north side of the site sit at one end of the park’s lake and are designed to appear like "two mountain peaks growing out of the water". A transparent atrium links the duo.
Two multistorey Armani apartment buildings to the southwest hope to embody "open air living", with staggered balconies, offering each residence natural sunlight.
The landscape architecture was led by Japanese graphic artist Kenya Hara and incorporates pine trees, bamboo, rocks and ponds.
Ma Yansong said: "In modern cities, architecture as an artificial creation is seen more as a symbol of capital, power or technological development, whereas nature exists independently. It is different from traditional Eastern cities where architecture and nature are designed as a whole, creating an atmosphere that serves to fulfill one’s spiritual pursuits.
"We want to blur the boundary between nature and the artificial, and make it so that both are designed with the other in mind."
Images courtesy of MAD Architects
