Urban Forest(

Urban Forest城市森林


Location: Chongqing, China
Typology: Commercial, Office, Hotel
Site Area: 7,700 sqm
Building Area: 216,000 sqm
Building Height: 385 m
Architectural Design: MAD Ltd
Structural Design: ARUP Group Ltd

Chongqing,the youngest municipality in China, holds great potential in its urban planning and construction and has the capability to be built into a most livable city, a city of pleasant environments, a traffic-jam-free city, even into a city that runs into a complete urban forest. A city with aspiration and vitality shall be courageous in envisioning and designing its great future.
                                                                                                                                                   --- Bo Xilai (Mayor of Chongqing)

By the end of 2009, MAD has completed the concept design of a 385 meter high metropolitan cultural complex in the city center of Chongqing - The Urban Forest. This is the third skyscraper designed by MAD following the Absolute Towers in Toronto and the Sinosteel International Plaza in Tianjin, China. MAD proposes a new architectural concept for the course of Chinese urban development --- to actualize a sustainable multidimensional high-rise within China's youngest municipality, where nature reincorporates into the high-density urban environment in the near future, to evoke the affection for nature once lost in the oriental ancient world and bring to the modern city dwellers.


In the year of 1997, Chongqing became the fourth direct municipality in China. As an important pole of the growing economy in western China, the city area of Chongqing is more than twice of those of Beijing, Shanghai and Tianjin combined. Such macro-scale urbanization should not only pushes economic growth and material prosperity, but also foster the evolution of the city's cultural essence. Chinese cities have gone through the process of once starting from nothing, to following contemporary Western civilization urban pattern. Now, the overall economic infrastructure has oriented the direction of future development towards inland China.




What lies in the future of cities? How should one grasp the concept of emerging high-density cities of China in the context of a scenic town such as Chongqing? How does one discuss the future of architecture in Chinese cities on the base of Eastern Naturalist perspective and in the new context of China's unique economic, social environment and globalization background? How to engage the city dwellers with an experience of nature when its presence of steadily diminishes in the face of the ever intensifying concrete jungle.






Throughout the process of contemporary Western urbanization, skyscrapers were the symbol of technological competitions, prime capitals and the formal enslavement of the powerful and the rich. Sustainable ecology became more of a demand for comfort; while the yearning of a return to nature was left ignored. The Urban Forest draws inspiration from the perspective of nature and the man-made in Eastern Philosophy, and ties the urban city life with the natural outdoor experiences. The shape of the architecture mimics mountain range, shifting in a dynamic and yet holistic rhythm, and becomes a continuation of nature. Unlike its preceding counterparts, The Urban Forest no longer emphasizes on vertical force, instead it concentrates on the multidimensional relationships within complex anthropomorphic spaces: multilayer sky gardens, floating patios and minimal and yet well lit nesting spaces, the architectural form dissolves into the fluid spatial movements between air, wind, and light. In this environment, people encounter nature filled with unexpected surprises.





The fusion between Eastern humanism spirit and urban public spaces pioneers in the making of a sustainable multidimensional city ---The Urban Forest will not be a piece of mediocre urban machinery, but an artificial organ that lives and breathes new life in the steel-and-concrete-filled city center.
In October 2009, The Urban Forest from MAD debuted in the Heart-Made,Europalia exhibition at the 2009 Europalia China. It represents the most challenging dream of the contemporary Chinese architecture --- a type of urban landmark that rises from the affection for nature. It is no longer a static icon but an organic form that changes all the time with people's perception.

重庆是中国最年轻的直辖市，城市规划建设大有可为，完全有条件建成一个大家公认的宜居城市，一个环境优美的城市，一个交通顺畅的城市，甚至变成一个森林城市。一个有希望、有活力的地方，要敢于设想和设计自己的美好未来。

——薄熙来（重庆市委书记）

MAD最近在重庆市中心设计了一座高385米的城市文化综合体——“城市森林”。这是MAD继多伦多Abosulte Tower，天津中钢大厦之后的第三座超高层建筑，是针对中国城市发展进程所提出的一个新的建筑观念——在中国最年轻的直辖市实现绿色立体城市，让自然重新融入未来的高密度城市，并唤起曾经寄托于古老的东方山水之间的情感。

1997年，重庆成为中国第四个直辖市。作为中国西部地区重要经济增长极，重庆的城市面积是北京、上海、天津总和的2.39倍，规模如此巨大的城市化进程所推动的，不仅仅是经济的增长和物质的繁荣，而是引导城市灵魂的文化进步。中国城市在经历了从无到有，复制西方现代城市文明的发展模式之后，整体经济结构的调整已经把城市的未来发展方向指向了中国内陆。

什么是城市的未来？在重庆这样一座山水之城，我们应该如何理解新的中国高密度城市？我们如何在中国特殊的经济力量、社会环境和全球化背景下，以东方的自然体验为基础，探讨中国城市的建筑未来？当高密度水泥丛林向每个人逼近，自然逐渐消失，如何让人们在现代城市生活中感受到自然的存在？

在西方现代城市的发展历程中，高层建筑成为技术的竞争，权力的俘虏和资本的象征。绿色生态更多是被转化为对舒适度的要求，而忽略了人们寄托在自然山水之中的情怀。“城市森林”汲取了东方哲学中对自然与人造的理解，把现代城市生活与自然山水中的体验联系在一起。建筑的体形如山脉般整体而生动地变化，成为自然的延续。“城市森林”不再强调垂直的力量，而更加注重人们在多向度空间的漫游——多层的立体花园，浮游的平台，纯净光洁的巢穴空间，建筑的形式消失在空气、风和光线的空间流动之中。置身于其中，人们将与自然不期而遇。

这种东方人文主义的自然精神与城市公共空间的结合，成为绿色立体城市的先驱——“城市森林”将不再是一个平庸的城市机器，而是一座在钢铁混凝土耸立的城市中心里自然呼吸的人造有机体。

2009年10月，“城市森林”作为MAD的代表作品，以瞩目的位置出现在欧罗巴利亚中国艺术节的建筑展，《中国当代建筑的前沿——心造展》中。它代表了中国当代建筑力量中最具挑战性的梦想精神——创造一种全新的高密度城市建筑类型，它将不再是一个固定的形象，而是一个随着人们内心体验而不断变化的有机形体。

Director in Charge: Ma Yansong, Dang Qun
Design Team: Yu Kui, Diego Perez, Zhao Wei, Chie Fuyuki, Fu Changrui, Jtravis B Russett, Dai Pu, Irmgard Reiter, Rasmus Palmqvist, Qin Lichao, Xie Xinyu

主持建筑师：马岩松，党群

设计团队：于魁，Diego Perez，赵伟，Chie Fuyuki，傅昌瑞，Jtravis B Russett，戴璞，Irmgard Reiter，Rasmus Palmqvist，覃立超，谢新宇