Hasta La Ideas

This luxury apartment building in Hong Kong references the local vernacular of overcrowded high-rise towers covered in ad hoc extensions.

International architecture firm Aedas designed the serviced apartment building for a small site in Mongkok, which is one of the world’s most densely populated neighbourhoods.

The architects drew on the local tendency to add balconies to apartments in tower blocks to maximise views, but “reinterpreted these structures in a modern way, using irregular protrusions to create unobstructed views for each apartment.”

Aedas also added a living wall to the bottom of the facade that was “inspired by the home gardens which people create on the balconies”.

The living wall will introduce greenery to the busy street and will be supplemented by planting in the area vacated by setting the building’s podium back from the street.

Also in Hong Kong, Zaha Hadid’s Innovation Tower for Hong Kong Polytechnic University is nearing completion and Herzog & de Meuron has been selected to design a visual culture museum in the new West Kowloon Cultural District. See more stories about Hong Kong »

Aedas recently won a competition to design a twisting 33-storey skyscraper for Shanghai, China, and is working with Dutch firm MVRDV on the design of a new business district in the city.

Here’s a project description from the architects:

Aedas designs a serviced apartment building in one of the most densely populated places on the planet

With a population density of 130,000 people per square kilometre, Mongkok, a neighbourhood in Hong Kong, is one of the most densely populated places on the planet. Aedas was appointed to design a serviced apartment building in this hyperdense district, whose construction work commenced recently.

Standing on a site of 614 square metres, which is challengingly small, the building will offer serviced apartment accommodation to occupants. In the early post-war years, it was common to create illegal iron balconies for residential units in Mongkok to acquire maximum view. Aedas reinterpreted these structures in a modern way, using irregular protrusions to create unobstructed views for each apartment.

Inspired by the home gardens which people create on the balconies, Aedas designed a green wall that seemingly protrudes from the solid façade of the podium to further connect the building with the historical cityscape. This green wall will also enhance the quality of life for the neighbourhood by increasing the provision of greenery at the pedestrian level.

The building is set back from the street to allow more opportunities for planting, which creates a breathing space in the middle of the dense neighborhood and provides rare greenery. It also transforms the outdoor landscape space into an urban backdrop for the building’s public areas such as an entrance lobby on the ground level and a transit lift lobby on the second floor.

The design sets an example of contemporary interpretation of traditional architecture.

Project: Composite Building at No. 78-88 Sai Yee Street
Location: Hong Kong
Architect: Aedas
Client: Good Standing (Hong Kong) Limited
Site area: 614 square meters
Gross floor area: 5,514 square meters

The post Composite Building
by Aedas appeared first on Dezeen.

Dutch firm MVRDV has won a design competition for a new business district in Shanghai, which is already under construction near the city’s Hongqiao Airport.

MVRDV‘s masterplan covers a 4.5 hectare site at the intersection of Shenhai Express Way and Shenbin Road. Straddling two sides of the junction, the new Central Business District will comprise a large southern plot and a smaller northern plot, which together will accommodate ten office towers and an underground shopping centre designed by architecture firm Aedas.

Sunken plazas are proposed for both sites, creating pedestrian zones that are sheltered from the busy roads. Wide stairs will be added to create informal seating areas, plus the larger of the two plazas will be surrounded by the windows of the new shopping centre.

Entrances to the shopping centre will also be added at ground level in the form of two giant glass cubes.

Nine of the office buildings will be located on the southern plot. Each will be between five and nine storeys in height and will feature rounded edges to create streamlined shapes.

The tenth office block is planned for the northern plot and is conceived as a cluster of four connected towers that the architects describe as “flower shaped”. A series of cultural facilities will be housed in the lowest floors of this building.

MVRDV will use indigenous plants to give every building a green roof, while the flower building will feature a rooftop jogging track.

The Central Business District is set to complete in 2015.

Other recent masterplans by MVRDV include a square-shaped peninsula in the Dutch city of Almere and a district beside a motorway in the French town of Villeneuve d’Ascq. See more architecture by MVRDV.

Here are more details from the architects:

MVRDV start construction of business district at Shanghai Hongqiao Airport after winning competition

Sincere Property, MVRDV and Aedas have started construction on a Central Business District at Shanghai’s mostly domestic airport Hongqiao. The 4.5ha site is located near Hongqiao Airport train station at the corner of Shenhai Express Way and Shenbin Road. The plan comprises ten office towers, an underground shopping centre, cultural program, parking and a sunken plaza which will bring a more intimate form of urban life into an area currently dominated by large boulevards and urban expressways. The project’s completion is planned for 2015.

Just weeks after winning the competition, construction has already started on this urban masterplan for an office and retail centre near the fourth busiest airport in mainland China. The 4.5ha site is divided into a small northern plot of 8,409 m2 and a larger southern plot. The team won the competition with highly energy-efficient architecture combined with an intimate urban plan which allows for pedestrian-friendly spaces.

The 110,000m2 offices are divided into ten towers in total: nine office towers on the southern plot ranging from five to nine floors, facilitating rental to different sized companies. The towers are flexibly designed to contain one or more companies. On the northern plot, the tops of four towers will merge into one building, forming a flower shaped landmark of four floors, cantilevered high above the ground.

The 47,000m2 retail space will be located partly on the ground floor and partly along a sunken plaza sheltered from vehicle traffic. Two glass cubes mark the entrances to the shopping centre and are part of the neighbourhood’s pedestrian route, which meanders through the site. The shopping centre is designed by Aedas. On both plots a spacious sunken plaza features wide stairs that can be used as seating, allowing cultural events to be hosted on the site.

Facade area has been minimized by introducing round cornered towers which, together with the continuous 50,5% transparency stone façade, leads to an efficient energy consumption. The façade presents a subtle shifted grid with a delicate bamboo forest reference. The self shading shape of the flower building has lead to a façade with smaller openings on the upper floors for efficient energy consumption. Hidden hatches next to the windows allow for natural ventilation.

The ground floor of the flower building is reserved for 1.790 m2 of cultural program. A 55.000m2 parking garage is located underneath the shopping centre.

The Hongqiao CBD will reach three stars, the highest ranking of the Chinese ‘Green Building Label’. Sustainable building features that will be used include high performance insulation, optimised building forms, shaded spaces, natural ventilation, rainwater collection, permeable road surfaces, links to public transport and a reduction in the urban heat island effect. Nine office towers will feature green roofs growing local plant species and the flower building will offer a sky garden with a continuous jogging path.

MVRDV was selected from a competition with 3 competitors to design the business park. The shopping centre is designed by Aedas. Completion is planned for 2015.

In 2003 MVRDV realised the successful Unterföhring. Park Village office campus near Munich in which urban intimacy was introduced into a large, business park environment.

The post Central Business District at Shanghai
Hongqiao Airport by MVRDV with Aedas appeared first on Dezeen.