The Urban Forest project by MAD Architects

The architectural firm MAD Beijing has designed The Urban Forest, a stunning skyscrapers in the city of Chongqing, China. The bill was introduced last October in China Europalia and means both a dream for architects but also a difficult challenge for the contemporary architecture of China. In 1997, Chongqing became the fourth municipality in China. As an important pole of economic growth in the west of the country, the size of the city doubles in Beijing, Shanghai and Tianjin combined. In this complex environment, MAD intends to implement its new architectural concept for urban development at The Urban Forest, a new commercial and cultural center located in the center of the city. The aim of the architects on projects like this is to combine the high and exorbitant growth of young Chinese cities with sustainable architecture to reinstate the concept of nature in the ancient oriental culture, a concept that has been lost in modern Chinese urban blade.

According to the architects: “The Urban Forest is not a mediocre piece of machinery most Chinese urban architecture, but an artificial body that lives and breathes new life into a city of steel and concrete.”

Chongqing’s mayor said on this project: “Chongqing, the young Chinese city, has great potential in its plan of urbanism and the city can become more livable in the country thanks to a jam-free, pleasant enthroned. A city with aspiration and vitality must have the courage to envision and design a great future. ”
MAD Architects aim to The Urban Forest to regain lost condition by nature in Chinese cities, posing a skyscraper with gardens in each of the plants. More than a building that grows vertically, the building is conceived as a story tower of curved shapes that are stacked on each other and moving horizontally at the same time as the tower grows. Besides a stunning visual effect is achieved thus creating outdoor spaces for lawns and gardens in each of the plants. The form of The Urban Forest is based on topographical curves of a mountain, which change at a pace inspired by nature organic. The building is not to emphasize the vertical forces, as most of the skyscrapers, but it is an architectural space fluid movement between air, wind and light, where the inhabitants are the unexpected surprises of nature.
The building will be 385 meters tall and will house shops, offices and hotels, on a plot of 7,700 m2. The total built area will be a total of 216,000 m2. Each floor has a different abstract and all-glass facades are thus providing a breathtaking city view. A terrace that is changing the way runs along the perimeter of each level and in it lie the various gardens, ponds, trees and small courtyards that give name to The Urban Forest. A central cylindrical structure supports the building while containing the elevators and other services. The Beijing-based MAD before he designed two skyscrapers: The Absolute Towers in Toronto and the Sinosteel International Plaza in Tianjin, China.