RESIDENTIAL AND OFFICE TOWER, HARBIN (2009)
It was planned to design and then build a residential tower higher than 100 meters, on a plot given by the Chinese authorities. This plot however presents some critical aspects due to its pre-existing configuration. In fact, it is placed among old and new buildings and it is heavily penalized by a fast-flowing road, elevated on a bend.
Because the small town of Harbin has a severe climate during the winter months, it was necessary to define a new concept of bioclimatic architecture: in addition to the use of advanced technologies such as solar thermal energy and photovoltaic (the latter used in terracotta panels for ventilated walls), it was thought a garden 100 meters high, “HANGING GARDENS OF BABYLON”. These special gardens combine bioclimatic actions inside the tower with a social action that, for their culture, will bind Chinese people to their land, even if vertically.