a new project for lahore.
The Shopping Centre is organized like the great shopping centres from the end of the 19th and beginning of 20th Century, displaying a very clear and straightforward internal structure. Think of the splendor and clarity of the GUM in Moscow, and of the great Galeria in Milano. Internally this clear structure will host all the best brands in a rich decorated environment. But ONL and YM will not try to copy these great examples. They will put together an actual version of decorative richness using modern computer controlled production techniques to produce the variety and richness in shape and materials.
On top of the 5-storey shopping centre ONL has planned three towers and one very special egg-shaped Virtual Reality Theatre. The biggest of the 3 towers contain rectangular, straightforward and functional office floors. The second largest is a residential tower, and the third tower is a 500 room five-star hotel. The underground car parking is divided over 2 floors, underpinning the whole building. The overall volume of the MC does not cover the whole building site. The MC leaves a generous place for an urban park in front of the entrance of the residential tower.
All three towers are constructed in a basically rectangular concrete structure. The perforated facade is a made of a lightweigth composite, perforated with a variety of smaller and larger holes as to let 30% of the sunlight in. The perforated triangular panels are fixed to a tesselated steel support structure and between the panels there are large linear openings to let the daylight in and the artificial night illumination out. The light leaks out from within through the cracks in folded skin. The overall impression of the facades, especially during nighttime will be pure magic.
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courtesy of www.skyscrapercity.com