Firm： Ballistic Architecture Machine (BAM)

Type： Commercial › Office Retail Shopping Mall

STATUS： Built

YEAR： 2021

SIZE： 300,000 sqft - 500,000 sqft

BUDGET： Undisclosed

The site is located in the Nankai District near Nankai and Tianjin Universities. The project site spans two plots separated by a tertiary planning road. The architectural programs include office towers with retail podiums. A subway line passes under the east side of the site and has delayed completion of a portion of the landscape around the subway station.

The landscape design works as an onion, with layers around a core central plaza. The outermost street facing layer is designed to accommodate grading differences and integrate as much street planting as possible. The middle zone features benches and seating zones intended to be used by office workers as smoking stations and places for private phone calls. The focus of the landscape design is on the core area or the central plaza.

The central plaza is intended to unify the two site parcels by creating a unified spatial condition which bridges both. The plaza is paved in thick black and white stripes of granite cobbles, and lined with pole light elements which create a regular rhythm down the plaza. Mature pagoda and cherry trees are placed in an irregular pattern on both sides of the length of the plaza. BAM also designed ring light canopies float above the tree level, creating a dynamic and playful element within the otherwise business friendly plaza.

The center of the central plaza is a whopping 83m long linear water feature. LED’s hidden within the water feature create a long bar of light beneath the fountain, and form an impressive foreground for the developer’s new office tower beyond.