Is China the new Dubai?

Fake Hills

Before the global recession and the Nakheel debt crisis, Dubai was a playground for architects - a place where they could get the craziest structures greenlit and approved and some of the most innovative and groundbreaking designs funded.

However, that has now all changed and Dubai has been forced to cancel hundreds of proposed construction projects leaving envelope-pushing designers out in the cold. However, there may be a new destination for their creative ideas - China.

A country whose economy seems unfazed by the recession, and whose government are a big fan of all thing 'super-projectesque', China has a stream of impressive construction projects in development, none more so than a new scheme in Beihai - Fake Hills.

Designed by the aptly named MAD Architects, Fake Hills is a innovative housing complex designed to reduce consumption of energy by allowing natural air and light to filter through the construction.

Also featuring a host of botanical gardens, this megastructure looks like a hybrid of a Dubai-esque hotel and a rollercoaster with its monolithic shape.

The unusual shape of the site includes a single skyscraper,set to one side of the scheme, accompanied by a line of structures irregular in shape and varying at height as the line continues, creating the 'fake hills'.

The holes in the structure allow for light to filter through as well as creating viewing platforms. Constructed from a mixture of glass and steel, the construction project also boasts low-rise structures, much more angular than the hills.

Once it's finished, Fake Hills will be capable of providing 430,000 square metres of space that will be dedicated to luxury apartments, offices, and a hotel.

The project should be ready for occupation by late 2010.

Relevant articles:

Floating eco-skyscrapers | China's 30-mile bridge | Indonesia's infrastructure boom

Like this article? Get the RSS feed: