It might look like an alien spaceship has landed, but according to architect Ma Yansong, the towering Chaoyang Park Plaza is inspired by classical Chinese landscape painting. "Like the natural elements found in these ancient artworks, you see the mountains reflected in the design of the two towers, the valley represented by the space between them and the creek defined by the small rocks that are the low-rise buildings to the north," says Beijing-based Ma, an architect protégé of Zaha Hadid. "The dark colour and free-form lines made by hand have the aesthetic resonance of an ink landscape painting."

Located on the southern edge of Chaoyang Park in Beijing's central business district, the 120,000-square-metre complex of skyscrapers, office blocks and public spaces centres on two skyscrapers detailed with deeply grooved curved fins. The buildings are separated by a wide gap, which swoops down to the 17-metre-high glass lobby.

An early architectural diagram of the mixed-used skyscraper


The sharp edges between the building's curves also function as ventilation shafts – drawing fresh, cool air across the pools of water surrounding the two structures, and filtering it through each floor. "The water that surrounds the towers has two purposes," Ma explains. "Conceptually, it makes the buildings appear as if they are going into infinity, because they are reflected in the water and their base is not visible. The abundance of water also helps to cool the air down for those working in the building during the summer months. It's an energy-efficient solution for natural ventilation."

Starting with a free-hand drawing of mountains, Ma quickly sketched simple, buildable shapes and lines. He then had to realise this object as a seamless, smooth surface. The firm used cold-bent (a low-energy method of bending thin glass at ambient temperatures) single curved glass and faceted flat glass to give the impression that the Chaoyang Park Plaza is rising naturally out of the ground.

"It's important to conduct these types of experiments in China, where much of the development follows the old-school, modernist typology of constructing boxes," Ma argues. "Since the Beijing Olympics in 2008, our office has been discussing how we can make architecture more human and at one with nature. We need to ask ourselves, what legacy do we want to leave behind on humankind's urban culture?"