Yading Cliff Building: Amazing Design by ELEV
By Lucas on Nov 16, 2012
As far as natural landscapes go, Toronto doesn’t have the most interesting one. Sure, we have Lake Ontario, rivers, forested areas and such, but the land itself is pretty flat. Not like Yading Village in the Daocheng County, Sichuan Province of China, where the village is surrounded by mountainous terrain.
A design competition for an innovative hotel/recreational facility is being held for Yading Village, and it looks like ELEV (Elevation Workshop) has provided one of the most interesting entries. We know, this building doesn’t feature residential space, but it’s too cool to not talk about — plus, you could live in a hotel if you wanted.
The entry is called the Yading Cliff Building, and its design is inspired by the growth and deterioration of the natural surroundings. Yading Village has experienced numerous landslides in the past, and ELEV’s Yading Cliff Building is designed to “replace” a chunk of mountain that has disappeared from the cliff face. Seems kind of odd to build on a cliff known for its landslides — how safe can that be?
Anyway, Yading Cliff Building is comprised of four bridges overlapping each other, and they appear to be wrapping around, but are actually penetrating the face of the cliff – did we mention that this building is more than 13,000 feet in the air? If you’re wondering if that’s insanely high – it is. That is why the structure would also have a visitors’ centre, and we assume an observation deck of sorts. Overall, the Yading Cliff Building would feature 48,437 square feet of space.
Does this design make you wish Toronto had some mountains? Or cliffs? There’s always the Scarborough Bluffs … but it’s clearly eroding too quickly to have any kind of development on its face. Also, the Bluffs aren’t very tall.
What do you think of the design? Would you feel safe staying in a hotel on the side of a cliff known for its landslides?
