Urban planning guidelines issued last year forbid the construction of “bizarre” and “odd-shaped” buildings that are devoid of character or cultural heritage. On the Block is a monthly series where we gather opinions on some of the unusual architecture that remains, from both a design and civilian viewpoint.

Moma, Dongzhimen

The Building

The award-winning MOMA covers 220,000sqm and is made up of nine towers, each 66 meters high. Also known as the Linked Hybrid, eight of MOMA’s towers are, true to name, connected and multi-use, while the ninth contains a hotel. Designed by Steven Holl Architects and completed in 2009, MOMA is billed as an “open city within a city.” Filled with shops, a cinema, a kindergarten, restaurants and expensive apartments – one could theoretically never have to leave the complex (that would be weird, though). The area also include a central green space featuring a large pond, while geothermal heating wells can be found 100 meters below each of the towers.

The Residents’ View

MOMA is “OK,” says kuaidi deliveryman Yang, who we find dropping off a package opposite. But he expresses safety concerns because, “What if there is a big wind and the bridges collapse?” Further down the street, a man wishing to remain anonymous tells us: “I’ve been to the movies [inside MOMA] and it was great. I have never walked across one of the bridges though.”

The Architect’s View

Chief designer at YZScape Ming Yan says: “With several beehive-like cubic towers connected by sky bridges, this definitely classifies as an example of ‘bizarre architecture’ in Beijing. [When designing MOMA] the overseas star architect, Steven Holl, made inventive changes to his signature matrix-facade cube design. Here, steel truss bridges are suspended 50 meters above the ground. These bridges were supposed to be sky lobbies, accessible to anybody,” he notes. “However, Holl’s self-satisfied public space doesn’t work in a city where most of its high-end communities are fenced off from outsiders. People rarely go up to these lobbies for security reasons.” Yan concludes poetically: “While initially envisioned as a public space, the building – via its bridges – is truly just a dream, hanging high above the sky, never to touch the ground that [we] everyday people walk upon.”