2020 Skyscraper Competition

Gu Jiaxi, Zuo Minghao, Mu Rongxuan. Feng Gang (Tutor)
China

As an important type of urban architecture, shopping malls have been profoundly affected by the rise of e-commerce platforms in recent years. The existence and organization of their buildings are constantly changing. The cyber mall and the commercial space, in reality, are constantly interacting with each other and co-evolving. As one of the world’s largest e-commerce platforms, Taobao fully demonstrates the strong demand and continued vitality of the Chinese market. Such a “skyscraper” in cyberspace has aroused our strong interest. We hope that by realizing Taobao, Representation to create a possible skyscraper to reveal the current connection between architecture and the information world.

We chose the project location over the highly contemporary Guomao overpass in Beijing, China. This highly dramatic and representative place will better accommodate and inspire the functional setting and contemporary attributes of our architecture.

The building consists of a pedestal connected to the urban transportation system, a mainframe, and numerous movable commercial cabins. The pedestal connected to the city ensures the stability of the entire building, and at the same time serves as a medium to transmit the energy required for the operation of the building; the mainframe is made of high-strength metal. Inside the frame is an elevator that can move in both vertical and horizontal directions. The track network constitutes the internal transportation system of the building; the movable cabin is the key to the building’s innovation and future. The unified modular combination ensures effective universality and integrates multi-functional such as retail, catering, and leisure. Commercial cabin movement is achieved by drone traction.

The overall space of the building refers to the prototype of Jeremy Bentham’s panopticon prison, which strengthens the sense of surrounding with dense network information. The internal unobstructed atrium has become an important place for commercial promotions and advertising, and it has accommodated a wealth of festive events. The granular space of the corn array implied a catalog-like pattern of network information retrieval. Through the effective use of VR / AR and other technical means, users will get very rich shopping and service experience.