MVRDV unveils pair of skyscrapers with "stratified cliff" facades
Two L-shaped buildings with angular, cliff-like facades make up the Oasis Towers complex in Nanjing, China, which was unveiled by the Dutch architecture firm MVRDV.
The Oasis Towers mixed-use residential and commercial development, which will have two 150-meter buildings, will be constructed on a site near the Jiangbei New Area Financial District in Nanjing.
The project will encompass two L-shaped, 40-story towers that surround an "oasis" in the center of the site and occupy two adjacent blocks of the Jiangbei New Area concept, which is intended to become a new financial hub and center for Nanjing.
The co-founder of MVRDV claimed that Nanjing's modern architecture was influenced by nature in both shape and appearance. With Oasis Towers, they aimed to take that fad to its logical conclusion by not only mimicking nature with its curved, tiered "cliffs" but also literally incorporating it into the architecture through the use of vegetation and natural processes. According to the studio, each tower will be constructed on the opposite corners of the blocks to take advantage of the strong western breezes that will provide the site with the most ventilation.
The exterior, perimeter-facing skins of the towers will be decorated with a formal, gridded façade, and the inside, interior-facing facades will have rippling and cascading terraces directed toward a public shopping plaza. A three-story envelope will be formed by terraces that taper towards the site's perimeter and surround the "oasis" and park-like space at its center. These terraces will be covered with trees, shrubs, and other vegetation and will be clad in recycled bamboo.
The project's renderings show a sunken plaza that is situated beneath the street that separates the two blocks, giving people a convenient crossing point and access to a metro station that is built beneath the towers. Residential portions will be located on the higher levels, while the ground and third floors will be divided into commercial and shopping sectors with easy access to the park on the property. According to MVRDV, the park-like area served a variety of purposes, including cooling and biodiversity, privacy by separating inhabitants of the higher floors from the shoppers below, and the creation of a walking environment that linked the two plots separated by the central road.
The otherwise similar buildings will be distinguished by curved balconies, and each floor will differ from the floors below it in terms of curvature. Planters and shrubbery will divide resident balconies across the residential levels. With rooftop reed beds used to filter and clean water as part of a greywater recycling system and trees and plants helping to shade and cool the site during the warmer months, greenery will play a part in Oasis Towers' sustainability efforts.
The architecture firm MVRDV was established in Rotterdam in 1993. The firm just started creating a mixed-use structure in Tirana that was based on a bust of significant historical figure Gjergj Kastrioti. The studio previously unveiled plans to turn Herman Hertzberger's Centraal Beheer structure from the 1970s in the Netherlands into a neighborhood with over 650 dwellings.
