HOTEL
PROPOSALS

HOTEL
PROPOSALS

HOTEL
PROPOSALS

With its rapid transformation into a 21
st
-centur y
world city, Beijing faces extraordinary challenges
and oppor t uni t i es. Wi t h i t s ver y auspi ci ous
location in the city, Wanhao Century Centre can
become a fulcrum, a turning point between the
past and future, setting an important example
for new development in Beijing.
T h e ma s s i n g o f t h e Ce n t u r y Ce n t r e’ s
architecture creates a clear distinction between
the ver ti cal i t y of the of f i ce tower s and the horizontal proportions of the hotel. On the hotel
hori zontal bay wi ndows and a strong di vi si on
of base, middle, and top floors help to express
the different parts of the complex programme,
and keep the horizontal texture of the façades.
The office towers are bol dl y for med with a base
shaft of stone and glass bands, from which large
vertical volumes of metal frame and glass are
suspended and appear to move up towards the
sky. Both the buildings and the landscape play
straight-line geometries against soft curves. This
formal yi n-yang concept i s grandl y decl ared
by the office tower, with its nearly-symmetrical
cur ved vol umes of gl ass gi vi ng the tower s a
memorabl e profil e.
I n thi s proj ect, the commerci al programme
and planning l imits suggested two towers and
the hotel, which other competitors treated as a
thi rd tower, producing very similar designs. The
designers had been impressed with the gnarled,
columnar rocks – some nearly twenty feet tall –
that they saw in gardens in the Forbidden City.
Li ke the ver ti gi nous mi ni -mountai ns of Qui Li n
in southern China, these grotesque forms seem
uni quel y Chi nese, and a fi ne metaphor for a
l arge-scal e ur ban for m. As the model l i ng of
the office bui l di ngs proceeded, these shapes
were abstracted in a nearly-symmetrical pairing
of the towers i nto a si ngl e monumental form,
whose gentl y bowed si des featured massi ve
projecting volumes. At the cross-axis of the split
tower a three-storey bridge l inks the offices to
the hotel.

James Mary O’Connor, AIA