The New Beijing Poly Plaza is a building complex in
Beijing, China
}
Beijing ( ; ; ), alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the capital of the People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's most populous national capital city, with over 21 ...
. Completed in 2007 for the
China Poly Group Corporation
China Poly Group Corporation () is a state owned Chinese business group among 102 central state owned enterprises under the supervision of State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission of the State Council (SASAC).
It is both prim ...
, it houses the company headquarters, other office space, retail, restaurants, and the Poly Museum.
The New Beijing Poly Plaza sits northeast of the
Forbidden City
The Forbidden City () is a Chinese palace, palace complex in Dongcheng District, Beijing, China, at the center of the Imperial City, Beijing, Imperial City of Beijing. It is surrounded by numerous opulent imperial gardens and temples includ ...
on the
2nd Ring Road
The 2nd Ring Road () is the innermost ring road highway which encircles the city center of Beijing, People's Republic of China. (The first ring road had been a circular tram route.)
The ring road can be divided into two parts: the original ring ...
, near the
Beijing Subway
The Beijing Subway is the rapid transit system of Beijing Municipality that consists of 25 lines including 20 rapid transit lines, two airport rail links, one maglev line and 2 light rail lines, and 463 stations. The rail network extends acro ...
entrance of Exit D of
Dongsi Shitiao Station
Dongsi Shitiao station (), is a station on Line 2 of the Beijing Subway.
Name
Dongsi Subdistrict is an area in the northeastern side of the old town of Beijing. ''Hutongs'' are sorted numerically from south to north, and are called "tiao" in ...
of
Line 2.
Its large atrium looks out onto a major highway intersection and across the road to the earlier China Poly Headquarters.
Architecture
For their new headquarters, China Poly Group wanted a design that would reflect their multiple corporate interests in a unified structure.
The structure has three main components: an L-shaped office building, a 21-story high glass-enclosed atrium, and a hanging structure referred to as the ‘lantern.’
The overall footprint on the 65,000-square-meter site is of a right triangle. Each leg of the L-shaped building measures 76.5 m long by 22.5 m wide. The
hypotenuse
In geometry, a hypotenuse is the longest side of a right-angled triangle, the side opposite the right angle. The length of the hypotenuse can be found using the Pythagorean theorem, which states that the square of the length of the hypotenuse equa ...
of the triangle is formed by a glass cable-net wall faces northeast, and reduces the overall exterior surface area of the building, helping to moderate the interior climate. The south and west walls of the building deflect direct summer sun with a travertine fin-wall and
brise soleil
''Brise soleil'', sometimes ''brise-soleil'' (; ), is an architectural feature of a building that reduces heat gain within that building by deflecting sunlight. More recently, vertical Brise soleil have become popular. Both systems allow low-l ...
shades that don't obstruct views. The travertine façade is illuminated with fluorescent lights, emphasizing even at night the building's play of light and shadow. Iits surface is perforated with smaller atria inset into the office bars, allowing light into the interior and for views through the building.
The building is framed in steel and concrete composite.
The glass cable-net wall construction is the world's largest, measuring 90 meters high by 60 meters wide, four times the size of the cable-net wall at the
Time Warner Center
Deutsche Bank Center (also One Columbus Circle and formerly Time Warner Center) is a mixed-use building on Columbus Circle in Manhattan, New York City. The building occupies the western side of Columbus Circle and straddles the border between ...
in New York. The wall is counterweighted with an 8-story "lantern" structure hanging from four parallel strand cables. The largest of these cables is 275 mm diameter, consisting of 199 parallel strands of 15.2 mm diameter. Each strand is made up of seven wires twisted around a central wire. The glass wall is also rigged to these v-shaped cables, reducing the effective distance the wall cables must span. This unique design allows for such a large cable-net wall, and for the lantern. The lantern structure, essentially a building hanging from another building, has no support columns at the ground. It is attached to the cables with v-shaped rocker mechanisms that are designed to maintain tension in a seismic event, keeping the lantern fixed in place.
The Poly Museum
The lantern structure houses the Poly Museum, whose goal is to repatriate China's cultural antiquities and whose collection bronze antiquities is one of the foremost in the country. It is referred to as the lantern for its resemblance to a pleated
Chinese lantern. The glass pleats increase reflection and refraction in the atrium and building exterior, while interior bronze walls contain the exhibition spaces of the museum. Public walkways between the glass and bronze walls bring the play of light and shadow to the interior of the hanging structure.
Awards
2011 – AIA San Francisco Chapter: Constructed Realities: Architectural Detail Honor Award
2011 –
Architect Magazine
''Architect Magazine'' is the successor to ''Architecture'', one of a series of periodicals published from before World War I by the American Institute of Architects.
Overview
This is the sixth iteration of a magazine about the field associate ...
: R + D Award
2010 – Beijing Modern: Top Ten Building Prize
2010 – China Tien-Yow Jeme: Civil Engineering Prize
2010 –
Urban Land Institute
The Urban Land Institute, or ULI, is a nonprofit research and education organization with regional offices in Washington, D.C., Hong Kong, and London. ULI advocates progressive development, conducting research, and education in topics such as s ...
: Award for Excellence: Finalist
2009 – Beijing Municipal Information Department: Beijing Top Ten Buildings Award
2008 – AIA Hong Kong: Merit Award
2008 – Chicago Athenaeum: American Architecture Award
2008 – Chicago Athenaeum:
International Architecture Award
2008 – MIPIM Asia: Business Centre Category
2007 –
Institution of Structural Engineers
The Institution of Structural Engineers is a professional body for structural engineering based in the United Kingdom.
The Institution has over 30,000 members operating in over 100 countries. The Institution provides professional accreditation ...
:
Award for Commercial or Retail Structure
2007 – National Council of Structural Engineers Association: Excellence in Structural Engineering: Award of Merit
2007 – Structural Engineers Association of California: Award of Excellence: Landmark Structures Category
2007 –
Structural Engineers Association of Illinois
A structure is an arrangement and organization of interrelated elements in a material object or system, or the object or system so organized. Material structures include man-made objects such as buildings and machines and natural objects such as ...
: Excellence in Structural Engineering: Most Innovative Structure
2007 –
Structural Engineers Association of Northern California The Structural Engineers Association of Northern California (SEAONC) is a structural engineering association established in 1930. Its headquarters are in San Francisco, California. Initially a club for structural engineers to exchange technical info ...
: Award of Excellence: New Construction Category
2006 –
General Electric Company
The General Electric Company (GEC) was a major British industrial conglomerate involved in consumer and defence electronics, communications, and engineering. The company was founded in 1886, was Britain's largest private employer with over 250 ...
: Edison Award for Excellence in Lighting Design
2005 – Beijing Quality Project Evaluation Committee: Great Wall Cup: Gold Metal
References
External links
*www.360cities.net/image/new-poly-plaza-beijing#-137.91,-31.54,70.0
*http://skyscraperpage.com/cities/?buildingID=44252
*https://www.flickr.com/photos/jbergen/4521024675/
{{Buildings and Structures in Beijing
Buildings and structures in Beijing
2007 establishments in China
Buildings and structures completed in 2007