UK architect Heatherwick Studio has designed a mixed-use district for Xi’an, a city of 12 million people in Shaanxi Province, central China.
The 115,000 sq m project will contain shops, offices and apartments, as well as a hotel, gardens and a sunken terrace. It will be built by CR Land, a subsidiary of conglomerate China Resources.
The district will be made up of interlocking structures inspired by nesting tables and will be clad with ceramics made by local firms to designs inspired by the Terracotta Army.
The “tables” create a frame with a series of open terraces with greenery scattered throughout them as well as the roofs and the ground floors.
From afar, the project aims to reference the roofs of the Chinese temples of Xi’an.
Mat Cash, a partner in Heatherwick Studio, said: “This new district in Xi’an explores how we can create variety and a sense of discovery and delight within a new-large scale urban development.
“Using natural materials, stepped terraces and an enveloping landscape we can create a city within a city merging retail, residential, office, cultural and leisure uses into one distinct place.”
Construction on the project has begun and is due to open to the public in 2024.
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