Magic Mountains

Proposal for a sustainable central business district in Chongqing, China

  • By 2015 the number of residents in metropolitan Chongqing will have doubled and more than 10 million people will have moved from the fields to the new skyscrapers in downtown Chongqing.
  • By the end of this decade 37 million people will be registered residents in Chongqing which is already now - with its 31.7 million inhabitants - is the biggest municipality worldwide. In this highspeed development 50 million m2 of residential and commercial floor space, 500 km of highways and almost two wide-span bridges are being added to the urban landscape every year. The annual 40% groth rate of Chongqing is higher than Shanghai's or Beijing's ever have been.
  • How can this boom be steered in a sustainable way so that the million times dream of prosperity does not exhaust the very resources needed to have a good life?
  • 2005: Registered population in Chinese minicipal cities
  • 2005: Average income in west and east China. Compared with the costal zones west China is economically underdeveloped
  • 2001-2006: As a response to the nationally imbalanced development the central government introduced in 2001 the "going west strategy" in its 10th five-year plan.
  • 2015: The new China resemble a powerful dragon along the Yangtze
  • 2005: Chongqing, existing infrastructure
  • 2015: Chongqing, planned infrastructure
  • 2003: Municipality of Chongqing
  • 2003: Metropolitan Chongqing
  • 2015: Metropolitan Chongqing
  • 2015: New building land and densification
  • The urban concept for the GCBD reinstates the existing mountanious feeling in the city onto the very dense and urbanized areas of Chongqing.
  • The new skyline consists of a composition of inhabited mountains. The mountain peaks match the high-density centers; the lower reaches of the mountains resemble areas built with low density, whereas the valleys are green and open spaces.
  • Site
  • Five minute grid
  • Grid adjusted to mountainous terrain
  • Green network and five-minute city
  • Nine neighbourhoods
  • Density
  • Monorail
  • In the GCBD everything is reachable within a five minute walking distance - radically promoting walking, cycling and the use of public transport. It deliberately excludes cars. A state of the art monorail spine links the site on a regional level to the "old" and the other planned CBG across the rivers, as well as to the airport and the new central station.
  • The project was part of the exhibition “CO-Evolution” at the Danish Pavilion at the Venice Architectural Biennale in 2006
  • COBE received the prestigious award, The Golden Lion, for the contribution

Whilst keeping with developer’s brief’s and legal regulations, the project is designed from a standpoint of sustainability. We propose a pioneer project in which architectural and planning solutions reduce the overall consumption of resources by 22%. The new skyline consists of a composition of inhabited mountains. The mountain peaks match the high-density centers, whereas the valleys are green open spaces.The project was part of the exhibition “CO-Evolution” at the Danish Pavilion at the Venice Architectural Biennale in 2006. COBE received the prestigious award, The Golden Lion, for the contribution.

Address:
Chongqing, China