Phoenix International Media Center, China
A skewed annular form shapes the irregular volume of the Phoenix International Media Center, the headquarters of China’s largest private broadcaster. Completed by BIAD-UFO, this remarkable building adds value to its location as an engineering tourist attraction. The structural system does not only stand for the engineering genius but also improves environmentally beneficial concepts by integrating water collection that naturally falls through these steel channels into the underground tanks for later use of landscaping elements. Another charm of the design is the indoor platforms of the Phoenix International Media Center, interconnecting ramps and stairs that act as circling bridges to link the office and studio segments.
The façade belonging to this 55-meter-tall structure has a soft topography to protect from severe wind pressures in winter. The 3800 pieces of custom-designed glass panels fill the space between the diagrid structures. The office building located in the south part of the field is elevated higher than the media complex in the north. These features resulted in the maximum access of sunlight and air to the interior despite being a closed area. Having a double façade system also helps improve the acoustic conditions needed for the radio and television studios.
Despite the beguiling convolutions, involutions, and revolutions of the torus’s compound curves, the building’s parts is deceptively simple: The torus acts as a shell enclosing two conventionally structured buildings inside. The architects stacked nine stories of offices within the taller, south side of the torus, and organized the television studios, a club, and high-end restaurants in the lower, northern end. Here, an art café occupies the top level, which is open to the glazed skin of the structure’s shell overhead.
References:
www.parametric-architecture.com
www.arcrealestate.ir
