Beijing already has one well known building in the form of Rem Koolhaas's looped CCTV skyscraper, but it could soon be set to get another architecturally unique development up to 400 metres tall that will trump that.
The new development will expand the existing Beijing CBD south with Chinese developer, the Greenland Group having secured the plot with that is permitted to have the tallest building. Such a design isn't particularly unusual in itself with Muharaqui Studios having previously dreamed up a similar plan for Manama in Bahrain.
What makes this different is they not only plan to construct a 400 metre tall building in the shape of an arch, but also a second shorter building, also an arch, that will be inside it and orientated at a 90 degree right angle.
When it comes to it, such a shape is particularly daring in China where curving arches such as this are uncommon - traditional Chinese architecture never got as far as the catenary arch preferring more shallow rise-to-span ratios such as those in display in the Zhaozhou Bridge.
This shape appears to have more in common with the Gateway Arch in St Louis, albeit one that's scaled up from an extravagant observation platform to a fully working skyscraper. However, as with the neighbouring buildings nearby, Beijing has always adopted the attitude that skyscrapers that don't look Chinese such as the CCTV Building are O.K.
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