CEG Yancheng Kaiyuan Street housing, Residential building design China, Chinese architecture photos

CEG Yancheng Kaiyuan Street in China

18 August 2023

Design: Baumschlager Eberle Architekten

Location: Kaiyuan Street Yancheng, China

Photos by Wu Qingshan

CEG Yancheng Kaiyuan Street

Upmarket apartments in cleverly sited towers. The China Eagle Group (CEG), a project development company specialising in luxury real estate, was planning to build upmarket apartment properties for the growing affluent middle class in up-and-coming Yancheng, a city of over one million inhabitants. The brief was to provide European-style architecture and interior design. The creation of apartments with a southern-facing aspect was key to the design, for only south-facing units would sell to the demanding Chinese clientele.

The monotone, parallel rows of apartment blocks characteristic of China were rejected in favour of powerful buildings, each with their own individual character. Above ground, the floor area of some 120,000m2 was distributed over three differently shaped tower blocks that are linked at ground level by a pedestal storey. The arrangement of the towers ensures that at least some of the rooms in each apartment are south-fa- cing. Based on a detailed solar analysis, the tower footprints were angled and their heights staggered to prevent excessively long shadows being cast on any of the blocks.

An organic composition of abstract sculptural forms. The towers appear to meld together or split apart depending on the viewer’s per- spective. Roof gardens on the staggered roofs offer breath-taking views over the city. To the south-west, the pedestal storey is immersed in the surrounding parkland, opening up only towards the street to the north-west, where the block entrances and retail space lie behind a two-storey façade.

The pedestal storey also houses a conference area and a wellness suite for residents. These areas, which are recessed into the park landscape, receive daylight through round courtyards cut into the pedestal. The project is defined by the sculptural force of its façades. Profiled concrete strips run in gentle curves around the buildings, underlining their object-like autonomy. The outer layer takes the form of an in situ cast concrete façade, the glass façades set back up to two metres and creating deep terraces. The closed parts of the inner façade are clad with black glass so that they recede behind the light concrete strips like the windows.

Brief: A complex of upmarket apartments, with European-style architecture and interior design, for an affluent Chinese clientele was to be built in Yancheng, a city of over one million inhabitants.

Realisation: The creation of a southern-facing aspect was key to the design, for only south-facing units would sell to the demanding Chinese clientele. The monotone, parallel rows of apartment blocks characteristic of China were rejected in favour of powerful, individual buildings. Above ground, the floor area of some 120,000m2 was distributed over three differently shaped tower blocks linked at ground level by a pedestal storey. The arrangement of the towers ensures that at least some of the rooms in each flat are south-facing.

Features: The result was an organic composition of three abstract sculptural forms that appear to meld together or split apart depending on the viewer’s perspective. Gardens on the staggered roofs offer panoramic views over the city. The project is defined by its horizontally layered façades with profiled concrete strips running in gentle curves around the buildings and underlining their object-like autonomy.

CEG Yancheng Kaiyuan Street, China – Building Information

Typology: Residential
Site: Kaiyuan Street Yancheng, China
Design competition/award: 1st prize

Client: CEG China Eagle Group Shanghai Co., Ltd.
Landscape design: Baumschlager Eberle Architekten
Interior design: Giancarlo Tintori

Site area: 25,896 m2
Area of building: 5,730 m2
Gross floor area: 120,000 m2
Building volume: 22,652 m3
Floor area: 108,000 m2

Start of planning phase: 2016
Start of construction: 2017
Completion: 2021

Photographer: Wu Qingshan

CEG Yancheng Kaiyuan Street, China images / information received 180823 from Baumschlager Eberle Architekten

Location: Yancheng, Jiangsu Province, China

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