Chinese cities are changing at a tremendous pace, and this project by Sako Architects in Beijing not only provides a bold new landmark with its black and white colour scheme, but has also challenged conventional building practise to maximise natural light in the interior.

‘Bumps in Beijing’ is located in south-west Beijing; an area under intense development, and stands as an integrated project made up of four residential buildings and one commercial structure.

Traditionally, residential buildings in China are oriented South and North, but as urban density has increased, this approach results in buildings ending up too close to each other, so north-facing rooms are often left without much natural light.

In response, Sako Architects have rotated their project by 45 degrees from the north-south axis, providing optimum sunshine for each building and also creating a shortcut into the central business areas from different directions.

The residential blocks are around 80 metres in height, with every two floors set as a unit, which in turn is staggered by two metres horizontally. The whole of the building consists of repetitions of these units, and the set-back areas are used for terraces.

Interlaced black and white units highlight the concave-convex façade and randomly placed windows 'weaken' the existence of all pillars and beams, making the whole thing look like lots of small black and white ‘boxes’ stacked together.