BEIJING – Central Beijing parades a new mixed-use commercial building that defies straight lines, designed by renowned Zaha Hadid Architects.

Four cyclical forms are joined by bridges and plateaus. The building is occupied by fifteen floors – the three lower floors are designed for retail use and twelve upper floors are used for office activity. The very top floors are dedicated to bars, restaurants and cafes. A central ‘canyon’ and courtyards mix the separate structures whilst providing opportunities for light and circulation. Bridges curve from one volume to the other, joining the areas and ‘generating a panoramic architecture without corners or abrupt transitions,’ say the architects.

Akin to other Hadid buildings, the main materials used are concrete, glass, steel and aluminium. The facade is constructed from aluminium and stone with insulative glass strips in-between. Varying thicknesses within the facade, plateaus and bridges create new and interesting technical and aesthetical thought, supporting the constant structural potential other Hadid buildings exhibit.

‘We have created a variety of public spaces that directly engage with the city; reinterpreting the traditional urban fabric and contemporary living patterns into a seamless urban landscape inspired by nature’, says Zaha Hadid. ‘The natural rhythms and flows of the city, of the environment and of the people have been integrated within the design to define its formal composition.’

Recently we published another project by Zaha Hadid called Pierres Vives, where the architect exhibits another curvaceous form and interesting connections with glass.

Photos courtesy of Iwan Baan

zaha-hadid.com