images courtesy TTIC | click to enlarge

Last week I tweeted about Sou Fujimoto winning a competition to design an urban oasis in Taiwan. While the video in the link was astounding, it didn’t quite do justice to Fujimoto’s bold and daring proposal. But images have now surfaced and are quite telling of why I was blown away.

At an estimated cost of about 1 billion USD, “21st Century Oasis,” the winning entry in the Taiwan Tower International Competition, is on track to land itself in the top 10 most expensive buildings ever built. Inspired by the trunk of the Taiwanese banyan tree, the ornate structural system will encompass a museum and exhibition spaces, as well as support a green rooftop floating 300 meters above the city.

Sou Fujimoto is no stranger to extravagant design. But in this case he seems to have gone above and beyond what I would have expected. With the rest of the global economy stalling, it’s a project that probably only can get green-lighted in China (but only in Taiwan would a Japanese architect be able to have his name on it).

Some examples of the different lighting schemes the broad facade can provide.

source: CTS News | TTIC | designboom