By the end of 2010, this 105,000 square foot city-within-a-city will be a major landmark in Chengdu, China. Since this particular part of Chengdu doesn't get that much sunlight, the buildings use sliced geometry that makes it porous to daylight exposure—hence the name of the project, Sliced Porosity Block. The ponds, which recycle rainwater cooled by lilypads, double as skylights to the shopping center, and diagonal escalators placed in seemingly random locales create the impression of a building within a building. The temperature in the complex is regulated geo-thermally. You can see a closeup of one of the eco-tubes feeding the city below.
The mega-complex will contain offices, apartments, stores, restaurants, cafes, poet-inspired ponds, a Rockefeller Center-esque open terrace, and a hotel, and it's designed by Steven Holl Architects, the firm responsible for another similarly-constructed mega complex in the country opening this year.
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