In what CapitaLand hails as an engineering and architectural feat, Raffles City Chongqing’s 300m-long “horizontal skyscraper”, perched 400m above sea level, is set to become the world’s highest sky bridge linking the most number of towers when it opens next year.
The 10,000m2 accordion-shaped structure, named The Conservatory, will connect a total of six towers – four at its base and two adjacent towers by cantilever bridges – and house an observation deck, sky gardens, an infinity pool and an F&B zone.
Lucas Loh, CEO of CapitaLand China, added: “A highlight is the observation deck, which features an outdoor patio with see-through glass flooring – the tallest of its kind across the whole of west China for the best vantage point to enjoy views of the Yangtze River and Jialing River merging at Chaotianmen.”
No less brag-worthy, it seems, is the rest of the 1.1 million-square-metre, RMB24 billion (US$3.8 billion) Raffles City Chongqing, an urban district on Chaotianmen riverfront comprising a retail podium and eight skyscrapers for residential, office, serviced residence and hotel use. The complex is designed by starchitect Moshe Safdie.
Raffles City Chongqing is located at the confluence of Yangtze and Jialing rivers in Yuzhong District, next to the traditional Jie Fang Bei CBD. It is also fully integrated with a transport hub comprising a metro station, bus interchange, ferry terminal and cruise centre.
It is designed by starchitect Moshe Safdie, who drew inspiration from the region’s thousand years of waterway transportation culture to create an image of powerful sails upon the river for Raffles City Chongqing to symbolise the host city’s surging growth.
The development is CapitaLand’s eighth Raffles City development in China. The seven others in Beijing, Chengdu, Hangzhou, Ningbo, Shanghai (with two Raffles City developments) and Shenzhen are operational.
