Chinese architecture firm MAD—whose previous projects have included such lively offerings as stingray-shaped art museums and glowing doughnut hotels—just released the latest renderings of Chaoyang Park Plaza, a complex of skyscrapers and public buildings in Beijing that are meant to resemble traditional Chinese landscape paintings. Sprawling across a massive waterfront bank, the park will most prominently feature a pair of matching 393-foot-high towers cased in dark, undulating volumes inspired by "rock formations."
Surrounding the ominous towers are sheltered, winding courtyards that offer "the freedom of wandering through a mountain forest," and smaller buildings shaped like river stones. "By transforming features of Chinese classical landscape painting, such as lakes, springs, forests, creeks, valleys, and stones, into modern 'city landscapes,' the urban space creates a balance between high urban density and natural landscape," explain the MAD masterminds. Take a closer look, this way.
· MAD's landscape-inspired Chaoyang Park Plaza breaks ground in Beijing [Dezeen]
· All MAD Architects coverage [Curbed National]