WUXI | Farmer's Apartments | 1,076 FT / 328 M | 74 FLOORS

[R@ptor]

By 'hot-simon' from SSC

[excel]

this thing is getting beast.

[djvandrake]

Sorry, but I think it's fugly.

The ball at the top is awful and the rest of it looks cobbled together with little cohesion. Not my taste at all. But, I'm a touch conservative with what I like in architecture. To each his/her own.

[malec]

Update:

Originally Posted by z0rg

By sony167

[Aleks]

Can't see the pics!

[Lecom]

Would look better without that ball thing at the top.

[L.u.v.]

I'm not a fan of the big ball on top either but the rest of the building looks amazing. What a truly awesome design idea, it really looks more like three skyscrapers held together by a central core with multiple sky bridges at certain levels.

I love it. The sci-fi geek in me is happy.

[malec]

Updates:

Originally Posted by z0rg

By hot-simon

[Aleks]

This one's looking great. It's definitely original and the three towers will make sweet apartments. Though I wonder, will these apartments actually be for farmers? Are they affordable enough for farmers anyways?

[Dylan Leblanc]

ruccop, z0rg, skyscrapercity - http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showpo...&postcount=212

[northbay]

how inelegant

[Spocket]

Truth be told , I'm not a fan of this design either ...it's that ball at the top that I don't think too much of . On the other hand , it's just such a great idea that the design itself matters little to me. When the rest of the world (save India) thinks of the countryside , they picture plenty of fields , houses here and there , and more or less undisturbed nature. In China , to North Americans at least , there isn't really much countryside to speak of. To us this whole country is like one city with fluctuating levels of urban density. Believe me when I say that this isn't really being built in the middle of nowhere as so many of us think of "nowhere". There is no "nowhere" in China.

[deja vu]

World's most expensive golf tee.

[Jasonhouse]

It doesn't look like the middle of nowhere in the rendering. It's just where you would initially think to put a supertall... And I would venture to say that this building will make the location "somewhere" pretty quick.

[deja vu]

This vaguely reminds me of the Field of Dreams story line: Person owns a bunch of fields. Person hears voices telling him to build an epic structure that seems completely out of place. Person starts to build the structure, people think he is crazy. Miraculously, he successfully builds it, and even more miraculously, they come. Whether this actually happens or not remains to be seen. It doesn't sound like the motive is to plant the seed for a new massive city so much as to relocate poor tenants into a much more condensed vertical space to make more room for farming and thus boost the economy. But the rate of growth here is so rapid, I would not be suprised if more supertalls were to follow in this area shortly, transforming it into a much more urban setting that would link up with the existing city center. Whatever the case, it is definitely not in the middle of nowhere.

I just had to dig up some more information on this project: it's bizarre and intriguing.

From Paddy Fields To Supertalls

Published on 14-04-2009 by Skyscrapernews.com

Construction is underway on what is possibly China's most unique and unusual super tall skyscraper project. Named the Farmer's Apartments, the project is located in rural Huaxi town which lies within Wuxi city limits and is the brainchild of the local government as an urban experiment.

The plan is to move the local farmers into the supertall, super-cool looking tower and then reclaim back land currently used for housing and return it to farming. It also shows how far the country has come in barely twenty years having gone from housing farmers in wooden huts with poor if any sanitation to building supertall buildings to accommodate them.

When completed the tower will stand at 328 metres with 74 storeys, which when compared to the current trend of seeing which country can build a skyscraper taller than the legendary Tower of Babel and shake hands with god aliens or whatever else is up there isn't all that spectacular but, when considered it will be standing on its own in green fields it can definitely be called iconic.

In keeping with its unusual location, the design of the tower is rather dramatic and eye catching, at is base the fully glazed entrance ways which feature at the front and back of the project are almost petal like in appearance.

Three separate, glazed cylindrical wings rise above the base and are linked by large sky bridges, these towers continue up to lipstick style peaks. Running through the centre of the towers is a central core which will presumably house important thing like lifts and other essential machinery.

This is topped by a fully glazed ball that will house a top class revolving restaurant which when lit up at night might possibly resemble the worlds largest disco ball.

Not only will the towers provide new housing for the poor farmers having to resettle in the luxury tower but there will also be office spaces, a 1,500 seater banqueting hall, exhibition space, skygardens, the all important shopping spaces, and when its home time and the plough just seems to lack the sophistication to arrive home in style in, a helipad is situated on the top of the tower.

source: http://www.skyscrapernews.com/news.php?ref=2073

[L.u.v.]

^ Do poor farmers want a world-class revolving restaurant? This tower has some interesting contradictions surrounding it, but I still love it. Sure the ball at the top does strike me as a bit tacky but something tells me it may look pretty cool once you see it in person.

I honestly wish we could do something like this here in the U.S., instead of waiting until we run out of space to build our suburban 1-story structures why not just build up as often as possible?

[QuarterMileSidewalk]

Ventura County, California, where I grew up, would be perfect for this sort of concept... They have ten small-to-moderate-sized cities, each surrounded either by undeveloped hills, or priceless super-fertile farmland. The county has restricted urban growth to the point where any new land developments are put to a vote, and are often voted down. There is thus an artificial housing shortage, and land values remain quite high, even in our economic downturn. The only alternative now is verticality... The idea of the Farmer's Apartments tower could very well be replicated there in coming decades (albeit with a classier design, I hope).

I think that the answer to your question, however, is that, given the freedom to do so, the majority of Americans have decided that they would prefer a home of their own, with their own little speck of land, to do with as they please. The wealthier you are, the more land you can get. This has been true throughout history, but America's brand of personal liberty, government policies and economic power have made it possible for a larger portion of the population to achieve that than ever before. There is a significant and growing demand for more traditional and dense urban patterns, as well, though. I think there's a legitimate place in our urban areas for all levels of density.

[Bootstrap Bill]

Originally Posted by L.u.v.

I honestly wish we could do something like this here in the U.S., instead of waiting until we run out of space to build our suburban 1-story structures why not just build up as often as possible?

Can we build super high rise condos at prices average American's can afford (not just the super wealthy)?

Orange County, California has some of the most expensive houses in the country. The median price is around $600k, mostly due to the extremely expensive land they're built on. Could a super high rise condo provide housing for less?

[L.u.v.]

Originally Posted by Bootstrap Bill

Can we build super high rise condos at prices average American's can afford (not just the super wealthy)?

Orange County, California has some of the most expensive houses in the country. The median price is around $600k, mostly due to the extremely expensive land they're built on. Could a super high rise condo provide housing for less?

You know, I wager that it's possible (though the tower would probably have to go without any fancy design or features such as rotating restaurants or big glass balls on top) but I'd be out of my league trying to argue the point...

[JoshYent]

amazing