People's Procuratorate Administration Building

Beijing, China

The great bureaucracies of China have since ancient times been housed in monumental, imposing structures. This administrative building for the People's Procuratorate of Beijing attempts to be more user-friendly. Grass, scree, brick, battens and stone benches define linear strips of landscape that break the huge building down to an 'amiable' scale. The planting - bamboo, firs and plum trees - evokes memories of the traditional Chinese garden. The building is clad in glass curtain wall, fair-face concrete panels and a metal lattice wall system inspired by another traditional element - wooden lattices.

Source: Aga Khan Trust for Culture