Horizon Lines

How Safdie Architects created a daring new skyscraper that reaches both up—and across—the skyline

- By Nate Berg

After eight years of design and construction, the eight-tower

Raffles City complex, in the southwestern Chinese city of Chong qing, is a striking landmark, with its two tallest towers rising 1,150 feet. Up in the sky, but also on the ground, the building creates new connections for the city’s 31 million residents, a mix of publicly accessible spaces unlocking its long-obstructed waterfront.

1. Waterfront Access

Located at the convergence of the Yangtze and Jialing Rivers, the skyscraper complex is set on a former traffic circle that blocked access to the waterfront for anyone who was not getting off a bus or ferry. Safdie Architects, renowned for founder Moshe Safdie’s cube stacked Habitat 67, in Montreal, set out to restore that access. The design rerouted roads to make much of the nearly 1-million square-foot site into a public park. A series of walkways and corridors draw pedestrians into the project and through the towers to reach the water’s edge.