Compare to other skyscrapers in Wuhan, the city which strives for the higher and higher buildings, Sky-City, a 150-meter high office building with a commercial base, pays more attention on the balances among the skyscraper, the city, and the inhabitants. Situated on a small site abutting major streets on 3 sides in Hankou, the design resolves many conflicting constraints while trying to push the limit of a private development in contributing to the public urban lives.
The commercial base is made into a porous perimeter block with rings of shops forming a large plaza in the center. Strategic openings accentuated with colors cut through the perimeter block, allowing open and free public access into the center from all adjacent streets. The plaza will become the center of energy of the nearby urban area.
A sleek and slender tower anchors the northwest corner of the site, overlooking the most important avenue in Hankou with views to the Yangtze River. Its irregular floor plate gives the building varied appearances from different angles. A floating sky-lounge is inserted into the tower roughly 100 meters above the ground, spanning the 25th and 26th floor. It is slightly rotated to maximize the view towards the Yangtze River. This public space is intended to bring much needed supports like café and meeting spaces into the sky for the high-rise occupants who are otherwise isolated from urban lives on the streets.
An outdoor balcony is created on each floor of the building, with the sky-lounge having a large outdoor terrace. These allow the building inhabitants opportunities of outdoor fresh air as desired, instead of being trapped in air tight spaces at all times.
