Golden Doughnut - Unusual Skyscraper In China
A Skyscraper shaped like a giant doughnut has been completed in Guangzhou, China. Located on the edge of the Pearl River, the 138-meter Guangzhou Circle is an iconic headquarters for Chinese companies Guangdong Hongda Xingye Group and GDPE Guangdong Plastic Exchange.
The architectural concept intends to design landmark building that will be immediately perceived as a native Chinese Landmark Building using a closed and central structure instead of the usual western skyscrapers stereotype. Therefore the architecture is fully defined, and iconic, very close to the Chinese way of perceiving and understanding. It's a sort of "urban logo" that works as a landmark in the same way that ideograms are used in the Chinese writing, instead of the alphabet. The architectural concept is inspired by the strong iconic value of jade discs and numerological tradition of feng shui. In particular, the double disc of jade (bi-disk) is the royal symbol of ancient Chinese dynasty that reigned in this area around 2000 years ago. The building reflected in the water of the river creates exactly the same image: a double jade disc. This figure also corresponds to the number 8 and infinity symbol that Chinese culture has a strong propitiatory value. Just remember how the date and time of the start of the Beijing Olympics was for the same reason fixed to 8:08 am of the '8-8-2008.
But the building is also a clear reference to the theme dear to the Italian Renaissance "quadratura del cerchio" (squaring the circle). The two circular facades in fact contain and support suspended groups of story's that are actually "squaring" the perfect circumference of the facades in order to make the interior space orthogonal and habitable.
The building has been designed by the Italian architect Joseph di Pasquale and his professional practice AM project from Milan that has been the winning proposal of the international architectural competition held in 2009. The total height of the building is 138 meters and incorporates 85,000 square meters of floor area. It features a giant hole with almost 50 meters in diameter. The floors are grouped in two rows of blocks visible from the side of the building, which are cantilevered up to 25 meters. The exchange hall is located underneath the central hole and functions as the heart of the entire complex.
The architectural concept intends to design landmark building that will be immediately perceived as a native Chinese Landmark Building using a closed and central structure instead of the usual western skyscrapers stereotype. Therefore the architecture is fully defined, and iconic, very close to the Chinese way of perceiving and understanding. It's a sort of "urban logo" that works as a landmark in the same way that ideograms are used in the Chinese writing, instead of the alphabet. The architectural concept is inspired by the strong iconic value of jade discs and numerological tradition of feng shui. In particular, the double disc of jade (bi-disk) is the royal symbol of ancient Chinese dynasty that reigned in this area around 2000 years ago. The building reflected in the water of the river creates exactly the same image: a double jade disc. This figure also corresponds to the number 8 and infinity symbol that Chinese culture has a strong propitiatory value. Just remember how the date and time of the start of the Beijing Olympics was for the same reason fixed to 8:08 am of the '8-8-2008.
But the building is also a clear reference to the theme dear to the Italian Renaissance "quadratura del cerchio" (squaring the circle). The two circular facades in fact contain and support suspended groups of story's that are actually "squaring" the perfect circumference of the facades in order to make the interior space orthogonal and habitable.
The building has been designed by the Italian architect Joseph di Pasquale and his professional practice AM project from Milan that has been the winning proposal of the international architectural competition held in 2009. The total height of the building is 138 meters and incorporates 85,000 square meters of floor area. It features a giant hole with almost 50 meters in diameter. The floors are grouped in two rows of blocks visible from the side of the building, which are cantilevered up to 25 meters. The exchange hall is located underneath the central hole and functions as the heart of the entire complex.
