TIANJIN | Xiaobailou Union Plaza | 488m | 1601ft | 108 floors

SkyscrapersOfNewYork · #1 Posted **Aug 25, 2010, 4:40 AM**

Quote:

Xiao Bay Lo
Tianjin, China
2013

The design of this 1,600 foot tall tower was shaped by the city’s recent history. As an important port in Northern China, the city was strongly affected by western influences in the last 150 years. This contributed to the great diversity in the culture and high level of sophistication only a few port cities in China shared.

The tower subtly illustrates the confluence and interrelationships between these various influences. Starting at the hexagonal base, this beautiful form has a strong directional twist. To counteract the arbitrary direction two towers twisted in opposite directions. The result shows exceptional beauty and grace. The 12 sweeping arcs intersect at 3 points along the height of the tower

http://www.pcparch.com/#/projects/office-buildings/on-the-boards---tower-1/description/

SkyscrapersOfNewYork · #2 Posted **Oct 6, 2010, 9:15 PM**

bump......

Dylan Leblanc · #3 Posted **Oct 7, 2010, 3:22 AM**

China has so many supertall proposals. We'll see what they can actually build. Shanghai WFC took ten years (or more?) to build.

plinko · #4 Posted **Oct 7, 2010, 4:55 AM**

This sorta reminds me of the old HK Union Square design by SOM (without the spire of course). Interesting.

pawelsf · #5 Posted **Oct 7, 2010, 5:01 AM**

The top 2/3 of the tower reminds me of the Four Seasons Kuala Lumpur.

Spocket · #6 Posted **Oct 7, 2010, 6:23 AM**

I really like this tower . It's not plain but neither is it tacky . I don't know if graceful is the right word but it does still have a certain elegance to it . Plus I'm really happy that it's proposed for Tianjin ... a city I sorta consider my second home in China .

I should probably say something about skyscrapers in China too : About the only way for a skyscraper to stand out in a Chinese city is for it to be a supertall . 30 stories gets lost pretty quickly no matter how beautiful the building so you have to combine super height with beauty (we hope) to get any sort of outstanding result that will garner any attention . Fortunately , China is a place that can afford to build supertalls and where they make financial sense to build . While I'd assume that many of the supertalls in China will be rather easily forgotten , there are so many that some are bound to become civic icons that make them recognizable to Westerners as much as the Chinese themselves.