The Nanjing International Youth Cultural Centre is located on the river in Hexi New Town; Nanjing’s new central business district. The project includes a 106,500 m2 conference centre, two towers totalling 258,500 m2, 100,000 m2 of basement areas and the plaza that terminates the CBDs main axis on the riverfront. The masterplan expresses the continuity and connectivity between the urban environment of Hexi New Town, riverside parkland, and the rural landscapes of Jiangxinzhou Island in the Yangtzer River connected by a pedestrian bridge. The Nanjing International Youth Cultural Centre occupies a site area of 5.2 hectares with a construction floor space of 465,000 square metres. The two towers share a five-level, mixed-use podium that houses the Cultural Centre.
The towers create a dynamic transition from the vertical of the urban CBD to the horizontal topography of the river. The taller tower signifies the position of the plaza both within the urban grid of Hexi New Town and on the Nanjing Skyline. The natural landscapes of the river are connected to the urban streetscape of the new CBD through the fluid architectural language of the mixed-use podium and conference centre.
The centre is the first completely top- down/bottom-up tower construction in China – starting at street level and building upwards and downwards in tandem – constructed in only 34 months using ZHA’s expertise and experience in 3D digital BIM (Building Information Modelling) design and construction management to reduce the on-site programme by a year to only 18 months.