Chaoyang Park Plaza

Inner-city buildings can often be categorised as ‘uninspired’ – giant eyesores, often blocky in nature, they tower in an overshadowing manner, a bit like the Lurch from the Addams Family.
Chaoyang Park Plaza, designed by MAD Architects, offers thoughtfulness and a clever aesthetic, very different than many buildings dotted around the Beijing CBD.

Taking inspiration from traditional Chinese Shan shui paintings, Chaoyang Park Plaza echoes the flowy nature of the art style, unfolding in the cityscape like a mountain set in a piece of Ming Dynasty art.

It’s composed much as the images you’d see in a Shan shui painting. Two beautifully curved buildings set the stage like mountains, and the surrounding lower buildings take the role of boulders and rocks on the mountain slope. And, when compared with the boring, utilitarian apartments surrounding the Plaza, the effect is heightened even more. The Chaoyang Park Plaza just goes to show that if you take your design cues from art, nature or both, you can’t go wrong.