C’est une nouvelle prouesse architecturale pour la Chine : à Chongqing, au sud-ouest du pays, un immense tunnel aérien relie les toits des quatre gratte-ciels du futur complexe Raffles City Chongqing. 300 mètres de long situés à 250 mètres au-dessus du sol. Ce sont les caractéristiques du « corridor du ciel », ce tunnel aérien imaginé par l’architecte italo-canadien Moshe Safdie. Au-delà du défi architectural, ce tunnel aura un fort impact touristique grâce à sa plateforme d’observation de la ville, sa piscine à débordement, ses jardins luxuriants et ses nombreux restaurants. This historic site in Chongqing is located at the center of the city, in the heart of a densely developed existing city infrastructure. We carefully studied and incorporated the city street organization, engaging the historic shopping streets and using their organization to help arrange and bring order to the complex programming of the project. Filling the site is a podium building of six above-grade stories, which houses some 200,000 sq m of retail space, as well as subway, bus, and ferry terminals. Over the podium, a public park and private residential gardens are created, with direct access from the city on the southern end of the site. Atop the podium, eight towers rise up, with six of southern towers reaching 250 m and the two northern towers topping out at 350 m. The towers are a mix of uses, comprised of residences, high end luxury residences, offices, service apartments, and hotel programs. In addition to having the tallest residential tower in China, four of the towers will be linked by the 280-meter Conservatory. The Conservatory will have a viewing deck, infinity pool, sky walk and varied dining options. The great opportunities with these building types are the unexpected new vantage points found to view the city, and the further integration of the public realm into the high levels of a building.