Miyi Tower

Miyi County, China

Through an invited competition, the New South Town of Miyi County in south eastern China selected our Los Angeles based team to create a master plan for a large expansion of their city. The tower itself, which is to act as a major landmark per the Miyi government’s request, sits at the edge of the Anning River and will mark the transition between the new development to the north and the new wetlands, leisure and agricultural districts to the south.

The Miyi Tower rises from the southern end of a kilometer long promenade that stretches from a high density residential and cultural hub devoted to regional arts. The promenade itself consists of a series of parks and public spaces designed by SWA Group to highlight accessibility to the river. Rising paths taper to form the amphitheater at the tower’s base, then converge and continue as a bridge across the river and an overlook with views of the reclaimed wetlands and lake beyond.

In the tower, double height spaces alternate with unenclosed areas that rise around a vertical core, shifting toward views at every floor. An auditorium, exhibition spaces and restaurants featuring local cuisine can be found on the interior, while open-air floors are used as event spaces, gardens and an observation deck. The pairs of lower and upper enclosed spaces are joined by playful light monitors which are aligned to take advantage of the day’s varying lighting conditions.

The tower is sheathed in a very porous yet continuous skin that gives the various programs their unified form and lends an ethereal effect evoking the shimmering surface of the river below.

Performed while partner at Studio Shift
Project Lead and Landscape Architect – SWA Group