Best Tall Building 300-399 meters Winner: Raffles City Chongqing, Chongqing
Christopher Mulvey
Principal
Moshe Safdie and Associates, Shanghai
Goh Huan Tong
General Manager, Project Development, Chongqing
CapitaLand Development Pte Ltd, Chongqing
A Flotilla of Towering Sails and a Skybridge: Chongqing’s New Gateway
Located at the confluence of the Jialing and Yangtze rivers, Raffles City Chongqing (RCCQ) is a vibrant mixed-use development situated at the apex of the city’s peninsula. Occupying 9.2 hectares of land, the project includes eight superstructures, above a retail podium. Bridging across four of the development’s towers is a 300-meter-long enclosed skybridge. In one of the world’s fastest growing and densest cities, RCCQ provides more than 45,000 square meters of outdoor amenities. A public park on the podium roof showcases landscaped gardens, water features, public art, and event space. The development also draws the public into the highest levels of the project through public amenities within the skybridge.
The project includes a new multi-modal transit hub and significantly improves pedestrian accessibility within the district. The development integrates multiple access points aligned with the city’s steep topography, an innovative traffic diversion system, and a new public walkway that cuts through the five levels of the retail mall to provide a direct connection between the podium park and Chaotianmen Square. A catalyst for the revitalization of the historic core of the city, the project reconnects the city to the prominent and historically significant square, transforming it into an active extension of the public park. The enclosed skybridge - which contains 15,000 square meters of facilities such as gardens, numerous dining options, bar and event space, a residential clubhouse with infinity pool, and a hotel lobby – bridges across four of the development’s towers. Weighing 12,000 metric tons and enclosed by a concertina structural frame with an integrated curtain wall comprising 3,000 pieces of glass and 5,000 aluminum panels, the enclosed skybridge gardens and amenities are open to visitors year-round, despite the region’s extreme climatic range.
