Shenyang Aquatic Residential Tower in China by Spatial practice

Article source: Spatial practice 

“How can we create an alternate living environment for a harsh cold climate? Is it possible to create a residential tower that is closed for warmth but open for views and sunlight?”

The project is located in front of Zhongshan Park in Shenyang, China; where the temperature drops to -11°C in winters. The design catches the maximum amount of natural sunlight while providing a large thermal mass for insulation. The result is a living zigzag facade with winter gardens acting as a buffer zone for cold winters and creating an internalized view.

winter view, Image Courtesy © Spatial practice

• Architects: Spatial practice 
• Project: Shenyang Aquatic Residential Tower
• Location: Shenyang, China
• Client: Confidential
• Project Team: Erik Amir, Dora Chi, Jason Loo, Ryo Otsuka, Eric Yuen
• Render: Karol Borkowski
• Project Area: 81,981 m2 (above ground) 28,329 m2 (below ground)
• Number of Stories: 29
• Building Height: 120m

aerial day, Image Courtesy © Spatial practice

The building form carves sunlight in the back, while arching forward in the front to decrease the surface area exposed to the cold winter winds of Shenyang. The solution is a building designed from necessity while providing a unique spatial experience for residents and creating a new landmark to respond to its prestigious position facing Zhongshan Park.

site plan, Image Courtesy © Spatial practice

program, Image Courtesy © Spatial practice

concept1, Image Courtesy © Spatial practice

concept2, Image Courtesy © Spatial practice

spring, Image Courtesy © Spatial practice

facade diagram_A, Image Courtesy © Spatial practice

facade diagram_B, Image Courtesy © Spatial practice

interior diagram, Image Courtesy © Spatial practice

site plan, Image Courtesy © Spatial practice

section, Image Courtesy © Spatial practice

ON spatial practice:

spatial practice believes in greatness. We strive to realize desires and dreams.

spatial practice is an accumulation of ideas, people and circumstances. We believe that true design is about bringing order into complexity – a dynamic complexity – the essential feature of human beings, a culture, or a society.

We look beyond basic conditions and restrictions – such as site, zoning, program and budget – to identify the essence of each spatial intervention. We catalyze architectural and formal thinking into a deeper context that concerns human interactions in specific cultural, social, and economic settings.

Committed to creative-thinking and thorough decision-making, we design as a team. We collaborate with some of the best creative minds from different fields to create a dynamic and open platform that confronts and addresses spatial issues with a wide spectrum of insights.  In constant operation, the office’s research arm, spatial tactics, strategically nourishes this platform through continuous investigations, lecture series, publications by playing with polarities and differential, from ordinary to extraordinary.

Since its formation, spatial practice has paid particular attention to materialize the concept by confronting the necessary constraints along the way. We devote equal rigor and criticality to every project stage, regardless of scale.

spatial practice is formed by Dora Chi & Erik Amir as a collaborative office for architecture, urbanism and design.  Current projects include residential towers in Taiwan, mixed use towers in China, spatial installations and villas in Hong Kong, a fashion showroom in Paris, and an ongoing research for high-dense urban environments.

Erik Amir is DPLG registered architect. He began his academic venture at Politecnico di Milano (Italy), continued to École Nationale Supérieured’ Architecture de Paris La Villette for a Master of Architecture, and then to the United States at Georgia Institute of Technology receiving a Master of Science. His work has been recognized by the Emerging New York Architects Committee, AIA-NY and the French Institute for Architecture. Erik previously worked with Michael Arad on the WTC Memorial for the victims of 9/11. He collaborated with Rem Koolhaas at OMA in New York and Beijing to lead design teams on prestigious international projects such as the Taipei Performing Art Center in Taipei and the award-winning residential complex Interlace in Singapore.  Erik is an Assistant Professor at Hong Kong University Department of Architecture.

Dora Chi is an American, New York State registered Architect and LEED accredited professional; she received her Bachelor of Architecture from Cornell University. Her passion for sustainably built environments has her advocating the realization of ecological design. She was awarded with research grants from Cornell University and the American Institute of Architects to conduct research on massive urbanization in China. Previous experiences with I.M. Pei Architect, Handel Architects, and Foster and Partners include prestigious international projects ranging from large scale high-end residential buildings, international cultural and mixed-use buildings in the United States, Middle East, and Asia.

Tags: China, Shenyang

Categories: Residential, Tower

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