The Height of Innovations

The John Portman & Associates-designed Yinchuan Greenland Center, a 300-metre supertall mixed-use project, has been cited for Innovation in Building in the 2014 Be Inspired Awards. These awards recognise business and technical achievements, innovation and leadership in the field. The project, to be built in phases, is currently under construction in Yinchuan, China, with the north tower and the podium expected to be completed in 2017. The second tower completion is planned for 2019.

John Portman & Associates was awarded the design following a design competition. The design for this 306,000 sq m two-tower mixed-use project was chosen by the famous Chinese developer Greenland Group for its practicality as well as its skillful integration of the layout and urban space. Following the conclusion of the design competition, developer, Greenland Group, and architect, John Portman & Associates, added key consultants to the design team to continue the integrated design approach that resulted in the winning concept design.

Location

The Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, called Ning for short, is located in northwest China, on the upper reaches of the Yellow River. Yinchuan is the capital city of Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, a region with distinct landforms that make it seem to be divided into two main parts, the mountainous region in the west and south and the plains in the north and east. Yinchuan lies to the west of the Yellow River and to the east of Helan Mountain.

The city, originally founded in 678, has a long and rich history. Even today, Yinchuan is a multi-national city including Han, Hui, Manchu, Mongolian, and Chaoxian peoples. Among them, the Hui people, one of the 56 officially recognized nationalities of China, account for 26.3 percent of the total population. Chinese-speaking practitioners of Islam, the Hui have developed a unique blending of traditional Chinese folk customs and Muslim life style that gives special character to the region.

Yinchuan is a key commercial and trading city along the New Eurasian Continental Bridge and also a regional central city within 500 km of the Ningxia-Inner Mongolia-Shaanxi-Gansu Neighborhood. Sino-Arab commerce has evolved into the world’s fastestgrowing commercial relationship and the Chinese government designated Yinchuan as the center for Middle Eastern trade with China.

The project site is located within the Yinchuan Yuehai Bay CBD, in the north of Yinchuan, just west of the planning Sino-Arabian Forum Zone. The site sits at a converging point of the E-W landscaping axis and N-S city spatial axis of a new masterplanned district. As such, Yinchuan Greenland Center is destined to be the centerpiece of the developing area. Moreover, once completed, the 301 meters hight twin towers will be the tallest structures in northwest China.

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Materials provided by Bureau of John Portman & Associatess