Work is well underway on Heatherwick Studio's "tree-covered mountains" in Shanghai, as shown in this flyover movie filmed by a drone.
One thousand trees dot the terraced forms of Moganshan, a project designed by Thomas Heatherwick's London studio for a six-hectare site adjacent to Shanghai's main art district, M50.
A rendering of the project was first unveiled in December 2015, but this footage shot by architects Wahyu Pratomo and Kris Provoost reveals that the concrete structure of the 300,000 mixed-use development is already in place, with trees installed in its columnar planters.
Pratomo, who is based in the Netherlands, and Provoost, based in Shanghai, shot the video using a DJI Mavic Pro drone and published it on their YouTube channel #donotsettle.
The pair have shot a number of architectural projects in Shanghai for the channel, including OMA's Lujiazui Harbour City Exhibition Centre and Zaha Hadid's Galaxy Soho building.
Heatherwick Studio describes Moganshan as a pair of "tree-covered mountains". Set to complete next year, it will include housing, offices, shops, hotel rooms and a school.
Blocks of varying heights will create a staggered roofline for the development, with the tallest sections forming the tip of a large wedge-shaped block at one end of the site.
"Conceived not as a building but as a piece of topography, the design takes the form of two tree-covered mountains, populated by approximately one thousand structural columns," said the studio, when the project was first revealed.
Thomas Heatherwick ranked at number 23 on the inaugural Dezeen Hot List. His studio also recently completed work on a new arts and culture centre in Shanghai, which it designed in collaboration with Foster + Partners, and is working with BIG on a new London campus for Google, featuring huge rooftop garden, a running track and a swimming pool.