With the world population at more than 6.8 billion people, space is at an all time premium. Innovative architects and designers are looking for creative ways to house the masses in cities and other already overcrowded locations around the globe while minimizing urban sprawl.
Following strict Feng Shui principles, architects Julien De Smedt Architects (JDS), were asked to design a vertical living concept for Shenzhen, China. Creating a new quarter in an existing city has its challenges, lack of space is the most obvious, but creating an enormous living and working design that moved beyond the familiar and somewhat boring tower, also had its challenges.
Modelled after one of China’s most iconic elements – the mountain – the five million square meter vertical city demonstrates that contemporary buildings can be large, sustainable and suited to their surroundings.
“We had to realize that to make a vertical city is not to make a tower. A city offers a complex set of social and spatial interactions while a tower offers mostly one condition: an elevator to connect a series of repetitive floors. The elevator is the link to everything and therefore your only chance to meet anyone. It is for that reason that we don’t live in towers,” explains JDS. The result is the Vertical City design concept for Shenzhen, China.
Visit: www.jdsarchitects.com
Show/Hide comment form
