West Mountain Innovation Valley – North Yard in Beijing

About

North Yard, the first phase of the West Mountain Innovation Valley technology campus, is located in Beijing's Haidian district. The master plan, developed since 2020 by CAA Architects under the direction of Liu Haowei, presents a complex of 12-hectares and a built area of 288,000 m², divided into three main plots. Totaling approximately 111,000 m², North Yard is the largest part of the development. The project offers a reinterpretation of the conventional technology park. Mountain-shaped office towers emerge from the ground with terraced setbacks that reduce their visual density and open each level out to the natural environment. Surrounding them, the podium – like a ring of clouds, elevated and continuous – winds its way around a 400-meter perimeter, creating a permeable space that encourages interaction. The ring's roof harbors an elevated garden that connects the towers. From there, one descends to a sunken commercial courtyard, which combines leisure, service, and work spaces. The walkways – comprising foorbridges, terraces, stairs, and underground passageways – links up the different levels of the complex and blurs the boundaries between surface and subsoil, creating a dynamic spatial experience.