Hasta La Ideas

Antonio Citterio Patricia Viel and Partners is set to design the latest addition to Taipei‘s skyline – a green bamboo-shaped skyscraper that will house not one, but two luxury hotels.

The Italian multi-disciplinary design practice is creating the 280-metre-tall Taipei Sky Tower (TST) for Taipei-based developers Riant Capital Limited.

With its curved edges, angled tip and grooved green glass facade, the new skyscraper blends visual references to both Chinese bamboo shoots and the pleated columns of ancient Greece, according to the developer.

In a statement Antonio Citterio Patricia Viel and Partners (APVC), Riant Capital and Hyatt Hotels said the TST will combine “some of the oldest elements from the East and West in modern harmony”.

APVC will also design the interiors for the Park Hyatt Taipei, one of the two Hyatt hotel brands that will have a presence in the TST.

The interiors of the second hotel in the tower, the Taipei Andaz, are set to be designed by Shanghai-based architecture and design practice Neri&Hu.

Lyndon Neri and Rossanna Hu are well versed in delivering this kind of brief. For their hotel redesign of Beijing’s Opposite House, they created bespoke glass interpretations of the city’s traditional food carts to furnish an events room.

The two practices from “different cultural backgrounds, generations, and aesthetic styles” were selected to create distinct identities for the two Hyatt brands, in what will be the hotel chain’s first dual-branded luxury development in Asia.

Set to be built in the Xinyi District of Taipei, the shopping and financial district with some of the highest property prices in Taiwan, the tower will also have a retail podium topped with a pool.

Hyatt is hoping the 500 luxury hotel rooms will cater to the increasing number of tourists visiting the city, with the Taiwan Tourism Bureau projecting that the number of visitors expected in 2020 will reach 19 million, of which international tourists will make up 77 per cent.

With the luxury hotel brand and high-end retail experience, the TST will also be aiming to appeal to the country’s wealthy elite. According to Credit Suisse’s 2016 Annual Global Wealth Report, Taiwan has the third most concentrated wealth density in Asia – only Hong Kong and Singapore have more ultra high net worth individuals as residents.

When the project completes in 2020 it will join a skyline dominated by the 508-metre Taipei 101 building, a supertall skyscraper that held the title of world’s tallest building for six years until the Burj Kalhifa stole its crown.

Development in Taiwan’s capital city is continuing apace, with Belgian architect Vincent Callebaut’s plant-covered twisting residential tower already under construction.

While Zaha Hadid Architects won the competition in 2015 to design a 920-metre-long bridge to span the mouth of the Tamsui River, which runs through the Taiwanese capital.

However, Sou Fujimoto’s plans for a 300-metre steel tower topped by gardens has been put on hold after fears over spiralling costs and structural safety.

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