A new CBD in Beijing: Wangjing

Wangjing is a district in northeast Beijing, which actually used to be a small village with a legendary pagoda tree. Now, it hard to imagine, the Pagoda tree is gone and has been planted elsewhere in a park, the villagers have received money to quit as soon as possible (this is an example where villagers have received a decent amount of money, this is not always the case), the village has been destroyed and now a brand new place has appeared, Wangjing of the 21^st century, a showcase for Beijing urbanization. Once this was not Beijing, since from there the Qing dynasty emperor Qianlong has a sight of ts capital city, hence the name Wangjing. Now this is king of downtown Beijing.


The work is under way, the cranes are there lined up and active day and night, workers are everywhere and spectacularly the new Wangjing is coming out of the ground.


Wangjing has turned these last decades as one of the most cosmopolitan areas of Beijing, with expatriates settling there as a favorite district of Beijing, not too far from the airport, not too far from many internationam schools, not too far from the Chaoyang district and its business hubs and becoming itself a business hub as testifies the Mercedes Benz tower there.


This is the Korean district of Beijing as well, have a look around Wangjing subway station and you'll see all the restaurants from South Korea with their iconic dishes, barbecues, stone pots...


The urge of a new CBD in Beijing


Actually, Beijing is still developping fast and the real estate price increase of more than 20% every year proves it. The market cooling down methods that the Chinese authorities have tried to set up have failed in Beijing when they have proven successful in other places in China, such as Shanghai.


The current Beijing CBD in Chaoyang built around Guomao is becoming too small and the extension possibilities are limited. It is time for a new CBD, and Beijing Wangjing has been the chosen place.


Many real estate developers have settled themselves there and here are some of the main projects:


The Greenland Real Estate Towers


A projetct that should be completed in 2014, the Greeland Center towers will be 280 meters high and the architects have designed a beautiful irreguar shape that should be beautiful to watch once finished, the surface will look like it is woven or made od scales.

The Poly Real Estate Diamond Lantern Tower


This real estate developer has designed a Tower that will be located among a group of large buildings. Shattered surface effects and light manipulation skills will enable them to build a tower that looks like a Chinese “Diamond Lantern”. Thisb one should be completed in 2014 as well.

SOHO Peaks


The most prestigious until now project is certainly the SOHO project, a group of towers that will be the core of the large Wangjing CBD project. It is designed by architect Zaha Hadid, the same that designed the Galaxy SOHO project, but this time it is reminiscent of mountains, and should be called SOHO Peaks. You can already visit the place, it is not finished but already beautiful, which is impressive for building under construction.




Sources:

SOHO China
Living in Beijing
INS Global Consulting
Wikipedia