Cloud Corridor | MAD Architects

Cloud Corridor

MAD Architects has created a thought-provoking vision for the future of LA’s residential architecture in the form of a vertical-living, high-density urban village concept. The concept of ‘Cloud Corridor’ is based on Ma Yansong’s ‘Shanshui City’ philosophy for architecture to manifest the spiritual essence between people and nature.

By reorienting the streets vertically, nine interconnected residential towers will redistribute the urban fabric to cohere disparate neighborhoods into a vertical village with public spaces and gardens in the sky. Connective corridors weave circulation between towers to foster a sense of community among residents and activate the towers as a bustling village within the city. Formally, the high-rise tower is a statement of power and social context. Cloud Corridor reconsiders modernism’s residential tower typology and folds in the design the philosophy that residential buildings should respond to nature and emphasize the environment.

Proposed as an urban landmark, Cloud Corridor expresses a devotion to nature. Each floor plate boasts gardens to accompany the residential units. The garden patios and courtyards provide a lush environment amid the surrounding urban density and provide a retreat among nature.  Elevated corridors and multi-level garden patios shape the city skyline and provide viewing platforms for residents to overlook the bustling activity below and the natural landscape beyond.

Adjacent to Museum Row, Cloud Corridor’s speculated site sits above a forthcoming Metro station and provides an opportunity to propel nature into the everyday life of the city. Cloud Corridor’s podium dually serves as a public park and as a transportation hub, providing the site for activity after museum hours. The sculpted podium is covered with a grass lawn and punctuated by trees. The transformation of its massing suggest the image of rolling hills. Simultaneously, the podium lifts away from the ground to reveal both a private-access lobby for tower residents and an entry for Metro Station patrons.  Merging infrastructure with nature, Cloud Corridor’s podium blurs the boundary between urban landscape and natural scenery.The Cloud Corridor challenges the conventional residential typology and transforms everyday’s urban experiences into opportunities for residents to interact with nature among the growing density in cities

MAD is one of several firms to plot the path that Los Angeles’s residential architecture may be headed in the not-too-distant future in exhibition entitled ‘Shelter: Rethinking How We Live in Los Angeles’.

Project Information :

Architect : MAD Architects
Location : Los Angeles, USA
Project Year : 2015
Total Area : 35,552 square meters
Design Team : Flora Lee, Felix Amiss, Johanna Tan, Wenshen Xie, Colby Suter