South of the historic centre of Xi’an, an inland Chinese city with more than 2,000 years of history—and the famous Terracotta Warriors—a new public space is opening. London-based architecture firm Heatherwick Studio, invited by Chinese state-owned property developer China Resources Land, took on the challenge of designing a modern cultural and commercial district. The result is the Xi’an Centre Culture Business District (CCBD), a district that “blends a retail podium with walkable streets, terraces and open plazas, offices, apartments, accommodation, green spaces, and a vertical park”. It is precisely this “vertical park” that we want to tell you about: the Xi’an Tree.
Xi’an Tree is an architectural artefact that seems to welcome those who venture into the CCBD, as if the commercial and cultural district were offering them a monumental bouquet of everlasting flowers just for passing by. Formally, in a subtle and contemporary way, it evokes traditional Chinese architecture. The structure of stepped terraces is reminiscent of pagodas and temple roofs, with curved eaves that fold towards the sky in a sense of ascension. However, Xi’an Tree is also a refuge of nature.
Far from being a conventional building, Xi’an Tree is a sculptural icon inhabited by a botanical spirit. A large tree whose branches open like hands, or like “petals” — as its architects affectionately describe them — rises 57 metres from the basement level, on 56 elevated terraces. More than just viewing platforms, the petal terraces are hanging gardens. They trace a poetic journey through the biomes of the ancient Silk Road that once departed from the city of Xi’an itself. The ascent up this “Xi’an tree” therefore becomes a scenic pilgrimage, a walk that climbs from the tundra to the steppe.
It is worth noting that Heatherwick Studio—under the direction of Thomas Heatherwick and a team led by partners such as Mat Cash and project leaders such as Luis Sacristán Murga—opted for a long process of collaboration with local artisans to bring the Xi’an Centre Culture Business District to life. After “over 2,000 experiments”, they shaped the “more than 100,000 tiles with a unique glaze” that cover its façades, columns and beams. Within it, Xi’an Tree is a natural meeting point, a place that is not only seen, but felt and experienced; a kind of statement that urban development can be friendly, unique and deeply human. From here, we offer our congratulations on such a beautiful creation.
Sources: Heatherwick Studio.
Images: Qingyan Zhu, vía Heatherwick Studio, and Xian MixC.
