Heatherwick Studio's Xi'an Tree Vertical Garden Project is driven by the architecture of flora, with plants and trees taking center stage.
The Xi'an Center Culture Business District, located south of the historic centre of Xi'an, China, is a breathtaking architectural masterpiece designed by Heatherwick Studio. Spanning 155,000 square metres, the development offers a unique blend of modern urban design and traditional Chinese aesthetics.
The City Scale of the district features a distinctive skyline inspired by the roofs of Xi'an's Chinese temples. The centrepiece of the district is the Xi'an Tree, a 57-metre-tall vertical park that serves as the heart of the development. Visitors can ascend the Xi'an Tree for panoramic views of the district's interconnected rooftops, terraces, and streets.
The Xi'an Tree consists of 56 terraces, each featuring gardens inspired by the biomes of the ancient Silk Road. From alpine tundra to dry steppe, the terraces offer a diverse and stunning display of flora. The rooftop gardens are beautifully designed, providing a sensory experience with the use of materials such as ceramic tiles, which honour Xi'an's ceramics tradition.
The Street Scale includes interlocking frames and terraces that create diverse vantage points, enhancing the spatial experience. The architecture team designed an unexpected three-dimensional urban landscape with multiple levels for citizens to promenade and meet. The design incorporates glazed surfaces, allowing natural light to filter into the district through various skylights scattered throughout the volumes.
The Human Scale offers a tactile, sensory experience with materials such as ceramic planters, soft-edged paving stones, and hand-carved timber. Inside the volumes of the Xi'an Center Culture Business District, there are enormous glass vistas overlooking the centre plaza and stepped elements integrated into the architecture.
The development includes a retail podium, offices, apartments, plazas, and public spaces, all connected through architecture shaped around greenery. The vertical park and green terraces integrate vegetation into every level of the built environment, creating a vibrant, living landscape.
Photographs of the Xi'an Center Culture Business District are by Qingyan Zhu, capturing the visual complexity at three scales: City Scale, Street Scale, and Human Scale. The district, designed by Heatherwick Studio under the leadership of Director Thomas Heatherwick, is a testament to the power of architecture to transform urban spaces and bring people together.
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