Magnificent View, Developed by China Real Estate and Investment Company in Shijiazhuang

Project: Magnificent View
Architects: Guangzhou GBD Design
Location: Shijiazhuang, Hebei Province, China
Photography: BenMo Studio

Magnificent View by GBD

People bring warmth to a specific space, and the space itself provides people with shelter and memories. Fundamentally, architecture offers people a 'support for existence'.

City's Existence Depends on Memory

Naming the project in Chinese after 'Nanjing Brocade' – a traditional fabric known for its cloudy colors and intricate patterns, the China Real Estate and Investment Company celebrates the city's heritage, a place of production for the country’s finest textiles: 'The Fifth Cotton Mill'.

The mill was part of Chinese culture for generations; it is a bright example of how space can become a symbolic memory. This is the connection between the mill, city, and society – a dialogue between architecture, space, and people.

The space appears as if the designer placed a carrier inside a glass box, creating floating forms and dynamic sculptures reminiscent of the winding shapes of Nanjing brocade or vast sandy dunes that transform time into organic musical patterns.

In Art, Past and Present Intersect, Old and New Establish a Unique Dialogue

The designer takes elements from nature and memory, weaving them into threads that weave the architectural brocade using flexible curves to provide artistic tension in the environment, merging memories with physical space.

Memories become visible before our eyes as if they were spun from thin silk threads. Countless flying threads unite day and night into a wingspan sculpture, a thread swiftly moving between large ribbons in space.

A 52-meter-long and 9-meter-wide sculpture rises to the sky, stretching across the entire interior space of the project. Inspiration for the work was drawn from Chinese brocade, swirling and dancing, intertwining and dispersing, outlining the form of an endless cycle directed toward the future.

'We highlight China's cotton textile industry heritage by using space as a carrier connecting past and future, through a dynamic impulse that outlines the beauty of life in its prime with unique elements of the past and powerful visions of the future.' – said the designer.

'Time' Is the Essence of Magnificent View

The designer used a unique artistic language to define the Magnificent View – the project's English name. This creative approach establishes a distinctive landmark composed of artistic and cultural elements.

Thus, winding curves grow around the space, organizing segments of time into specific groups, orchestrating multiple ideas into one. Like an epic opera, majestic forms captivate people with a unique prelude.

Unleash Imagination, Open Your Mind to Magnificent View

Complementing the main sculpture, an artistic staircase becomes a symbolic entrance to a time tunnel, distributing imaginary elements above and below ground. At the center of two sculptural curved staircases lies an installation called 'Time Shuttle'.

The designer places the main functional area of the project in a subterranean courtyard, where reflecting surfaces as vast as sky and lakes provide depth of view, separating all within the object from the complexities of the outside world. The lounge area, opposite the book bar, interprets the similarity between time and geometric forms.

All space is imbued with sacredness and tranquility. It fosters a life of elegance with poetry, wine, flowers, and tea; collecting the essence of life through elements such as rhythm, softness, and comfortable conditions for socializing with old and new friends.

The club house is a continuation of the home, offering a unique accompanying view that further enhances and integrates social circles. Again, the 'spool' becomes the main artistic symbol of space. This time, the form hangs from the ceiling, concentrating light emanating from the surrounding 'ocean of knowledge'.

Thus, the designer transforms space into a vial of curiosity and creativity, awakening memories and shaping them. The space appears as a 'dance frozen in time', ready to begin again, evoking an enchanting melody that turns the objects into living and meaningful entities.

The designer hopes to create an artistic 'choreography' between real and imagined times, offering guests endless possibilities from the future in banquets, meetings, or modern evening events.

-Project description and images provided by GBD Design