Jaeger and Partners Architects’ design for the Shenzhen Archive Towers recently received a Design Excellence Award in the AIA Chicago 2011 Design Awards program. This competition scheme was acknowledged in the Unbuilt Design Award category. Shenzhen’s Meiling District resides between City Center and new north railway station, forming an urban center with the Archive site at its heart. Creating an authentic urban space, the design unifies four parcels (city blocks) by removing dividing streets. Circulation is re-organized, thereby harnessed, by introducing a perimeter one-way street system. The enlarged spatial boundary establishes an appropriate scale and symbolic relationship with the City Plaza. More images and project description after the break.
Defining the Archive precinct, a continuous floating perimeter block embraces four discrete volumes: three towers and a cube. This framework defines an internal landscape – an escape from city into garden. Circular green zones denote building entries inviting traversing pedestrians. Public functions, exhibition spaces and select retail reside under the permeable perimeter, encouraging through circulation and urban interface.
