A 150-meter tower with a massive green atrium will rise in the Tianfu Software Park in Chengdu, China. As part of the design competition led by the Chengdu High-Tech Investment Group for the development of the Tianfu Software Park, MVRDV’s winning design includes two towers and a four-story cultural center. The park is envisioned as a platform where architecture and environment coexist, situated at the boundary between urban and hilly landscapes. Aligning with Chengdu’s vision of creating a ‘park city,’ MVRDV’s buildings actively integrate with the surrounding greenery, from the green roof of the faceted tower to the cascading green gardens pouring into the building’s interior.
The building design features a mesh-like facade that wraps around the entire tower to increase openness and then unfolds at the lower levels, where the mall is located, to create open spaces. The mesh allows for passive cross ventilation, and a large internal vertical garden creates a buffer zone that reduces the solar heat absorbed by the building, lowering interior heat. The shadows cast by the terraces also reduce the amount of building energy needed to cool the temperature, increasing efficiency. The structure of the cultural center follows a triangular site plan. The sloping roof of the terraced spaces are covered with greenery that form a small park. The polyhedral triangular panels covering the roof rise to different heights depending on their location, creating a clear story that lets in light.
As MVRDV founding partner Winy Maas explains, “The atrium is key in both the office tower and cultural center designs. In the tower, it’s a huge vertical space, and in the cultural center, it’s a terraced, passable space. They take different forms, but they serve the same function. It’s an area where green plants grow, an element that connects the building from the bottom to the top, a shade and ventilation device that creates a sustainable built environment. And most importantly, they make buildings interesting and gathering places.
An explosion of vitality at the intersection of city and nature, the vertical garden and the ridge of the rooftop roof that naturally connects to the surrounding greenery symbolize the sustainable future envisioned for Chengdu, home of high technology.
