Rongchuang Office Tower Plaza

BAM was responsible for the landscape design of sunac's new office building, uniting the two separate plots with a slender central plaza containing a long artificial pool. Stacked slabs of granite create biscuity planters placed irregularly around the linear water feature. BAM selected the pagoda and cherry trees from nurseries in Jixian, near Tianjin. The site is located in the Nankai District near Nankai and Tianjin Universities. The project site spans two plots separated by a tertiary planning road. The architectural programs include office towers with retail podiums. A subway line passes under the east side of the site and has delayed completion of a portion of the landscape around the subway station. The landscape design works as an onion, with layers around a core central plaza. The outermost street facing layer is designed to accommodate grading differences and integrate as much street planting as possible. The middle zone features benches and seating zones intended to be used by office workers as smoking stations and places for private phone calls. The focus of the landscape design is on the core area or the central plaza. The ring lights illuminate both in the upwards and downwards directions. Viewed from the surrounding towers the lights create floating abstract circles over the landscape below. The central plaza is intended to unify the two site parcels by creating a unified spatial condition which bridges both. The plaza is paved in thick black and white stripes of granite cobbles, and lined with pole light elements which create a regular rhythm down the plaza. Mature pagoda and cherry trees are placed in an irregular pattern on both sides of the length of the plaza. BAM also designed ring light canopies float above the tree level, creating a dynamic and playful element within the otherwise business friendly plaza. A smaller 30m fountain attracts visitors to the central core landscape plaza. The center of the central plaza is a whopping 83m long linear water feature. LED’s hidden within the water feature create a long bar of light beneath the fountain, and form an impressive foreground for the developer’s new office tower beyond. The 80m long central water feature includes a hidden lighting detail that creates a glow beneath a customized water droplet pattern stainless steel grate.