Cloud Valley - an AI project in China
Cloud Valley is Bjarke Ingels Group’s commission for Terminus Group. It’s part of AI City which will be entirely operated by an artificial intelligence system.
The 135,000 square-metre development, located in Chongqing, the sprawling megacity in Southwest China crisscrossed by mountains and rivers, is situated within the Chongqing Hi-Tech Industrial Development Zone.
Cloud Valley offers a vision for the cities of the future.
BIG’s proposal covers two plots along Xinshou Avenue and Gaoxin Avenue, with Cloud Valley anchoring the Science and Technology Headquarters in the first phase of the masterplan.
Bjarke Ingels, founder and creative director of BIG, says that Cloud Valley, “is envisioned as a city where people, technology and nature thrive together- with spaces designed for all types of life: human life, plant life, animal life and even artificial life.”
Cloud Valley is a city which will be entirely operated by an artificial intelligence system.
The campus-style headquarters at the centre of the city take their inspiration from Wulong Karst in the Chongqing Wulong National Park, where the valley and mountain create connections between earth and sky. It will feature the largest publicly accessible green rooftops in China for open-air events, and below the roofscape the building will open up to the surrounding public.
In Cloud Valley, barriers between nature and buildings have been removed, and generous green courtyards with natural light and ventilation feature. Each courtyard is intended for specific public activities, and a technological park is spread between the buildings to host sports events, art exhibitions and product fairs.
Cloud Valley is Bjarke Ingels Group’s commission for Terminus Group.
The panels of the overhanging green roofs part to make the courtyards open-air, and at night their undersides will transform into a digital display. They will shelter buildings from the elements so that they can be more open at the sides.
“The green roof also embodies an ecological cohesive coexistence between human, nature, climate and technology,” say BIG. “To display the ultimate gesture of nature meeting technology, the green roof carpet shaping the valley and the mountain turns into the largest digital display in China at night.”
The green roof is where nature meets technology.
AI City’s location between the mountains means that cloud formations will shield the building from direct sun exposure. The roof drops right to the central courtyard in one place, allowing access to the roof garden, and in other places it lifts in two corners to create entrances from the inside.
The roofscape allows for an abundance of nature to coexist with office programmes, and preserves the wild landscape experience.
Environmentally friendly transport options will be prioritised.
Terminus Group specialises in AI and robotics, and therefore in AI City houses will feature automatically adjusting solar panels and a digital assistant, as well as power systems controlled by Terminus Group software. Collected data will be used to inform city planning, and the city will be continuously upgraded as more data is collected and analysed.
The city’s traffic strategy focuses on a transition towards rebalancing nature with development, prioritising bikes, robotic vehicles and self-driving cars.
