Cradle Towers
In February 2017, London-based architects Tonkin Liu revealed their competition-winning proposal for a new Trade Centre in Zhengzhou, east-central China.
Cradle Towers comprises five towers that swoop out of a ring-shaped podium. The design is inspired by the nearby Songshan mountain range, and is intended to celebrate the city’s origins in a high-tech way.
The complex is a mixed-use development of residential, offices and hotels. Vertical courtyards bring natural daylight into the deep plan at the base of the towers and establish vertical gardens up their inside faces.
At the micro-scale the glass façades are fitted with a responsive skin that accommodates the conflicting requirements of programme, solar shading, and privacy. At a macro-scale it has a gradation upwards from dark to light, establishing the podium as a heavy mass and blending the lantern-like tips of the towers with the sky.
A fluid landscape spills out of the cradle and under the lifted podium ring, connecting the vast inner courtyard to the wider city sprawling beyond. At the peak of each tower a roof-top glass house simultaneously screens the mechanical plant and ‘greens’ the skyline.
Images and content courtesy of Tonkin Liu.
[edit] Find out more
[edit] Related articles on Designing Buildings Wiki
Featured articles and news
CIAT responds to the updated National Planning Policy Framework
With key changes in the revised NPPF outlined.
Councils and communities highlighted for delivery of common-sense housing in planning overhaul
As government follows up with mandatory housing targets.
CIOB photographic competition final images revealed
Art of Building produces stunning images for another year.
HSE prosecutes company for putting workers at risk
Roofing company fined and its director sentenced.
Strategic restructure to transform industry competence
EBSSA becomes part of a new industry competence structure.
Major overhaul of planning committees proposed by government
Planning decisions set to be fast-tracked to tackle the housing crisis.
Industry Competence Steering Group restructure
ICSG transitions to the Industry Competence Committee (ICC) under the Building Safety Regulator (BSR).
Principal Contractor Competency Certification Scheme
CIOB PCCCS competence framework for Principal Contractors.
The CIAT Principal Designer register
Issues explained via a series of FAQs.
Conservation in the age of the fourth (digital) industrial revolution.
Shaping the future of heritage
Embracing the evolution of economic thinking.
Ministers to unleash biggest building boom in half a century
50 major infrastructure projects, 5 billion for housing and 1.5 million homes.
RIBA Principal Designer Practice Note published
With key descriptions, best practice examples and FAQs, with supporting template resources.
Electrical businesses brace for project delays in 2025
BEB survey reveals over half worried about impact of delays.
Accelerating the remediation of buildings with unsafe cladding in England
The government publishes its Remediation Acceleration Plan.
Airtightness in raised access plenum floors
New testing guidance from BSRIA out now.