Chengdu, China
Designed by Chinese architectural studio UDG. Atelier Alpha, the Panda Tower is a new cultural landmark that combines observation, exhibition, and sightseeing.
The 11-floor tower incorporates an observation platform and exhibition spaces providing a space for sightseeing.
While the studio creates a mathematically-controlled façade based on the program, the tower celebrates the combination of nature and technology with a striking and detailed aesthetic.
To create this distinctive language, the architects draw inspiration for the Panda Tower from bamboo shoots.
Widely distributed in the Sichuan-Chongqing region, bamboo shoots are not only Giant Panda’s favorite food, but also known as one of the most popular food ingredients in Sichuan cuisine.
The tower, whose front façade looks like a cut-off, creates a striking silhouette and permeable motif by creating a curved appearance with its rear façade and its lattice structure, which gives the building its overall language.
The tower features a spacious viewing platform looking towards the central viewing area of the conservation park on each story.
“Without curtain walls nor gratings, the floor slabs and the buttresses are honestly exposed,” says UDG. Atelier Alpha.
For the main body of the tower, the studio uses floor slabs and arced structure units. The inspiration for this special motif comes from the petals of the hibiscus flower, the city flower of Chengdu.
“The number of pedal slabs decreases in an arithmetic progression from the bottom of the tower to the top. Viewed from the central courtyard, the space demonstrated the beauty of mathematics,” states the studio.
“The top of the curtain wall system of the Panda Tower has a mechanical system that opens the façade units according to programmed angles and speed on special days, such as the birth of new Giant Panda babies, the return of Giant Panda from oversea facilities, and important holidays and festivals,” the design team adds.
The studio describes the opening of the façade as “the sprouting of a bamboo shoot”. The interaction with the visitors is eco-friendly and uses clean energy.
As the studio emphasized, the Panda Tower is a tower based on completely program-controlled data. The team correlated all architectural elements through the constraints in the grasshopper definition.
“The geometric constraints define the space, the mechanical constraints limit the structural components, and the dynamics control the retractable device,” added the official.
“This rigorous system of mathematical constraints is the most important design gene of the project, as well as the base of aesthetics of the resulted space.”
Project: Panda Tower
Architects: UDG. Atelier Alpha
Lead Architect: Zi Zhen
Design Team: Qijing Wu, Yunqi Lei, Yi Zheng, Nan Zhang, Xinyu Tan, Kai Xin, Guodong Lu, Yangzhou Lu, Chentian Liu, Shupei Shi, Shangshang Cao, and Jiaqi Zhang
Competition Design Team: Zi Zheng, Lie Qian, Yunqi Lei, Yi Zheng, Guodong Lu, and Shupei Shi
Construction Design Team: Fei Xu, Rui Yu, Luyao Duan, Zhiqian Lv, Peng Ye, Xin Du, Yuwei Peng, Yuan Qiang, Keyi Yu, Hechuan Li, and Jianjun Sun
Structural Consultants: iStructure
Mechanical Consultants: Shanghai AGAPE Mechanical and Electrical Technology Co., Ltd.
Construction Firm: China MCCS Group Corp., Ltd.
Curtain Wall Consultants: Inhabit
Client: Tianfu Greenway, Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding
Photographers: SIMON, Arch-Exist
Drawings: UDG. Atelier Alpha
