Linked Hybrid: Best Tall Building Asia & Australasia
Linked Hybrid: Best Tall Building Asia & Australasia
Linked Hybrid: Best Tall Building Asia & Australasia
Winner
Linked Hybrid
Beijing, China
T
he pedestrian-oriented Linked Hybrid the lower buildings, public roof gardens offer tran-
complex, sited adjacent to the old city wall quil green spaces. The central roof garden features
of Beijing, aims to counter current urban an open design to reflect the architectural structure of
developments in China by creating a new twenty- the cinematheque. At the top of the eight residential
first century porous urban space, inviting and open towers private roof gardens are connected to the pent-
to the public from every side. A filmic urban experi- houses.
ence of space; around, over and through multifaceted
spatial layers, as well as the many passages through the Elevators displace like a “jump cut” to a series of pas-
project, make the Linked Hybrid an “open city within sages on a higher level. From the 18th floor a multi-
a city”. The project promotes interactive relations and functional series of skybridges with a swimming pool,
encourages encounters in the public spaces that vary a fitness room, a café, hotel bar, and an art gallery,
from commercial, residential and educational, to rec- connect the eight residential towers and the hotel
reational; a three-dimensional public urban space. tower, and offer views over the city. The shops at the
grade level are complimented by the programs at the
The project exists on three levels. The ground level bridge level and work together to be semi-lattice-like
offers a number of open passages for all people (resi- rather than simplistically linear. The complex aims
dents and visitors) to walk through. These passages to achieve a programmatic self sufficiency of amen-
include “micro-urbanisms” of small scale shops which ities for residents. By bringing diverse programs
also activate the urban space surrounding the large together both on the ground floor and in the bridges,
central reflecting pond. All public functions on the the project stresses ambulatory circulation. Rather
ground level—including a restaurant, hotel, Montes- than skybridges that drain street life, the aim is for a
sori school, kindergarten, and cinema—have con- base route and sky route that will constantly generate
nections with the green spaces surrounding and random relationships like the richness of metropolitan
penetrating the project. On the intermediate level of density; functioning as social condensers in a special
experience of city life to both residents and visitors.
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“Though this project is not especially tall, it points the way
forward for the intensified multi-use, multi-level, connected cities
of the future.”
Antony Wood, Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat
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Above: Exterior views of skybridge connections
Left Photo © Iwan Baan, Right Photo © Shu He
Opposite Top: Building sections
Opposite Bottom: Aerial view within urban
context
Photo © Shu He
The point of view changes with a slight ramp up, a energy during summer and 3700 KW in winter.
slow right turn, or a stop to gaze at the distant urban The large urban space at the center of the project is
view. The encircled route connects the towers in a new activated by a grey water recycling pond with water
collective aspiration—different from towers as isolated lilies and natural grasses in which the cinematheque
iconic objects. The context of this new linkage is the and the hotel appear to float. The pond is part of a total
increasingly privatized and objectified nature of recent project grey water recycling system, which connects
Beijing developments. all apartments to a main ultraviolet filter tank system
and with distribution watering all landscape gardens
Geo-thermal wells—660 in number—at 100 meters and roof gardens. In Beijing, where water shortage
(328ft) deep, provide Linked Hybrid with cooling in requires urgent measures, Linked Hybrid sets a new
summer and heating in winter, and make it one of the example as a total ecological urban sector with living,
largest green residential projects in Beijing. About working, cultural, and recreational facilities operating
70% of the heating and cooling load is covered by the from the same sustainable systems of water recycling
geothermal system throughout the year. Using this and geothermal cooling and heating.
closed-loop system saves a calculated 5600 KW in
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Jury Statement
With its rich pallet, appropriate scale and consistency
in architectural language, Linked Hybrid adds a level of
high quality architecture to the city of Beijing. Working
well above the plane of purely sculptural architecture, the
project embodies, on an urbanistic scale, where the future
of tall buildings and urban cities is heading, creating
architecture that does not isolate, but rather connects
both on the ground plane and in the sky. This creates both
a unique ground level plane that acts as an oasis in the
density of Beijing, and a real multi-use zone of connected
urbanism in the sky.
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A. Cinematheque
B. Hotel
C. Pond with parking below
D. Kindergarten / Mound of
Childhood
E. Mound of Adolescence
F. Mound of Middle Age
G. Mound of Old Age
H. Mound of Infinity
H
F
G
B
A
D
C
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Left: Overview of central public plaza
with roof garden over theater in center
Opposite Top: Building elevations:
south above, east below
Opposite Bottom: View at ground
plane with large reflecting pool in
foreground
Photos © Shu He
portal through it. The “Mound of Adolescence” holds to taste are already visible—life at the urban scale
a basketball court, a roller blade and skate board area. goes on—but the hope of shaping new public space
In the “Mound of Middle Age” there is a coffee and tea with Hybrid Buildings of “Z” dimension experiences
house (open to all), a Tai Chi platform, and two tennis remains a core intention. The overlapping perspec-
courts. The “Mound of Old Age” is occupied with a tive thrill of walking the skybridge route is matched
wine tasting bar and the “Mound of Infinity” is carved by the amazing porous sense of urban enclosure while
into a meditation space with circular openings refer- walking within the public space at grade. The magical
ring to infinite galaxies. night time up-lighting on the bridges reflected in
the central pond are phenomenal experiences which
At the Linked Hybrid project, the idiosyncratic cannot be photographed—they must be felt via the
changes of new users and adjustments according body in space.
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