South West Hotel | Beijing , China | Henn Studio B

The site of the five-star South West Hotel is located next to a major traffic junction of the West Fourth Ring Road and Lianhua Road in Beijing. The project is a multi-functional building complex, integrating three major programs: hotel, commerce and office. All the program units loop around a central courtyard peaking in a five-star hotel.

From the distance the overall complex creates a clearly identifiable landmark. The ascending curves of the volume are a reference to the dynamics of the context. The internal courtyard shields from the noise and the hectic city life creating a retreat for guests and customers – a shared communal habitat connecting the manifold programs.
The different spatial qualities between the exterior (city) and the interior (courtyard) are reflected in the building envelope. The inner façade appears open and transparent. Horizontal bands form balconies and outdoor gardens – secluded getaways for exchange and relaxation. The outer façade is a double layered multifunctional skin. It consolidates the miscellaneous programs behind a homogenous, large scaled surface. This surface serves as the screen for media and light installations during day and night. A matrix of LED light units supplements and surrounds a central high-end LED screen displaying commercials. The low resolution media installation (LED lights) works as a visual amplifier augmenting and abstracting the commercial content over the entire building façade.Client: South West Hotel.....more

Year: 2010
Location: Beijing, China
Program: Hotel, Conference, Office, Retail
Status: Competition, 2nd Prize
Design Team: Leander Adrian, Daniel da Rocha, Martin Henn, Markus Jacobi, Daniel Kraffczyk, Klaus Ransmayr, Max Schwitalla, Rainer Sladek, Sun Wei, Wang Zhenming
Local Partner: China Academy of Building Research (CABR)
Consultants: Priedemann Fassadenberatung GmbH, Thismedia, Transsolar Energietechnik GmbH

Vertical City Moscow | Henn Studio B

Contrary to actual planning of the new suburban business district “Moscow City”, we propose our building to be located in the centre of Moscow. The program is differentiated between cultural program (e.g. artist studios, football stadium, church, dormitory…) and economic program (e.g. stock exchange, office blocks, commercial facilities…). The lack of space resulted in a vertical arrangement of the program within the perimeter of the Hotel Rossija. The stacking of entire program typologies resembles a Vertical City rather than a conventional high-rise building.

The intensity of programmatic interaction between economy and culture expresses itself in the different degrees of spatial connectivity. Consequently the two towers rise separately and clash according to the climaxes of interaction. The primary infrastructure system (UPWAY) works on an urban scale to fulfil the amount of 40.000 people circulating through the vertical city. Plugged into the Moscow Metro system, the UPWAY opens a new district in the heart of Moscow. Furthermore, horizontal layers – comparable to squares or marketplaces in the traditional city – function as nodes to distribute the people by means of elevators and escalators to their final destination.....more