A LONDON-BASED architecture firm has submitted a proposal for a 25-storey building based on the Hanging Gardens of Babylon.
The Garden Hill concept, which will be used for student accommodation, is planned for Digbeth just south of Birmingham city centre. It is the design of architecture firm Architects of Invention who say the apartments will have gardens at every level, will give all occupants and visitors access to private and shared terraces and have a spacious rooftop garden.
The entire block is made of Cross Laminated Timber as an exercise in highly sustainable construction.
They say:
The proposal suggests a new model for live/work/play, where the units are small, but there are large shared facilities for communal living and working, including music recording studios and small rental units for startups.
The £70 million, 38,500 square metre project is backed by Chinese investment firm PGC Capital, who recently funded another development in the British city.
The Garden Hills project is in pre-submission negotiations with Birmingham City Council
Principal Nikoloz Japaridze told the Architectural Journal:
We were approached by this private equity fund to produce something that would appeal to the Chinese eye, which is more used to iconic design. We had to come up with a more eye-catching scheme.
“We don’t approach architecture in a safe mode. That is our condition; we do what we think is exciting and good.”
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