Tianfu Cloud City at Xinglong Lake, Chengdu

Tianfu Cloud City at Xinglong Lake demonstrates how new city centers should address the oftentimes too large public green spaces that are government-mandated, in order to improve the quality of life and work in the urban environment. The solution is Cloud City’s centerpiece——the Arroyo——a long, natural, canyon-like feature which functions as connective tissue, joining the two sides of the government-mandated Greenway which would otherwise cut this satellite city’s civic heart in two. Secondly, the architecture responds to market demand for a diversified commercial district by providing different office typologies, from start-ups and co-working office space to larger corporate office towers. Thirdly, the project uses buildings to shape space, creating a variety of public environments, “Places”. From larger civic markers, to small courtyards shared by co-workers, a balance is struck between unifying the entire development as a cohesive city center while creating multiple intimate moments