Vanke Metropolitan Binjiang

Vanke Metropolis Riverside in Beijing is a pair of approximately 150-meter residential towers in Tongzhou, the city's sub-center, at the confluence of five rivers: the Grand Canal, Wenyu River, Tonghui River, Yunchao Jian River, and Xiaozhong River. The architecture is by Tsushima Design Studio, developed by SUNLAY Sanlei Architects, using an all-glass curtain wall comparable to Manhattan's One57 and 56 Leonard, and delivering 270-degree river views. Interior design is by Mauro Lipparini, landscape by Beijing Yuandian Landscape and Guangzhou Taiyi Concept Art. The landscape comprises a ground-floor Oriental garden and a rooftop sky garden, the latter being the highest non-enclosed accessible rooftop garden in Beijing. The overarching design principle, natural infiltration, pursues seamless integration of architecture, interior, and landscape. The hotel-style arrival at the main entry uses rhythmic metal grilles through which greenery is glimpsed, like a thin, elegant screen that frames the Oriental courtyard and lets the community and city infiltrate one another. A giant illuminated cantilever canopy introduces a curved green island, pulling landscape beneath the overhang. The central ground-floor garden, Clear Ripple Court, is themed on the sound and form of water: cascading water flows down from the first floor to the basement level, with elastic curved weirs whose density controls flow rate and speed, producing a string-like vibrating effect. Scattered stones, drifting mist, and the Spring of the Earth source feature, framed by rocks and lush planting, shield the basement. The interior uses simple lines and a restrained palette, with highly reflective ceilings and floors that pull the green and blue of the landscape indoors; floor-to-ceiling windows frame bamboo and rippling water in a multi-dimensional infiltration of light, sound, form, and shadow. The rooftop garden posed severe technical challenges: the top is open with no air-conditioning, exposed to Beijing's winter wind, sand, and summer sun, and the roof was a post-construction addition supported by a hollow, lightweight structure. Materials could only be carried by passenger elevator because residents had already moved in. Tower N1 houses the Hilltop Tea Pavilion, a Zen dry-landscape moss garden reached by elevator, using frosted glass, white sand, and washi paper over a pure white base, accented by dark metal and greenery. A stepped path descends from the entry hall to a karesansui moss court, ending at a wooden tea structure lit by soft light through washi doors. A four-seat tea room in light wood and washi, engineered for outdoor durability and light weight, offers tatami seating with a soft luminous ceiling; sheer washi sliding panels admit sun without glare, shifting through the day. A viewing lounge with screened booths for four to six people faces the river. Tower N2, the Sunset Bar, serves younger residents with a deliberately different, colorful, active language, using colored glass, green marble, and rusted steel to deconstruct light into a dusk-party atmosphere. An elevator hall wrapped in colored glass opens like a Mondrian painting into the lounge; a star-lit canopy covers the stair, and a higher party hall for ten to twenty people, enclosed in colored glass, supports board games, screenings, talks, and relaxed gatherings. An L-shaped sky bar at the best confluence viewpoint offers river views by day and city lights by night. Removable landscape curtains divide space flexibly and can be replaced by event posters. The 8,210-square-meter project, completed in 2022, hosts community events ranging from Wang Shi's rowing club gatherings to calligraphy classes, engagement banquets, and rooftop garden parties.