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DESIGN STATEMENT

Green Unit Scapes

ILHA VERDE · MACAU

Green Island is located at the north-west corner of Macao Peninsula, it used to be an island surrounded by water by all sides. Over the years with Macau’s urban expansion, the Green Island it became connected to the Peninsula by a landfill. An exuberant green mountain remains at the center of the former island, giving the Green Island not only its name but also its identity.

This project is deeply rooted on this site, aiming to create a new architecture and housing concept inspired by this special location. The GREEN UNIT SCAPES is a new housing prototype, aiming to create a landscape of green residential units in dialogue with nature and its surroundings.

This project is a residential building, it starts as two towers on the ground level and as they raise, they are connected on the top level, forming one whole floor plan. The key requirement for this project is to provide a green balcony for each apartment. Each floor is made of an aggregation of units, this results in rectangular volumes with a zig-zag perimeter, the introduction of a small shifting movement from floor to floor, and it produces an overlap creating a land- scape of independent green balconies.

The building consists of two distinct towers, one that is vertical and the other that is inclined, which dialogue and end up connecting on the fourteenth floor. On the ground floor the space between the two towers is a large public space and garden. The ground level accommodates the lobby where residents can access the towers, and commercial spaces facing the public space, the car park is located underground, and all the floors above the ground floor are residential area.