Eight interlinking blocks will form the 250-metre-tall Vanke 3D City in Shenzhen, demonstrating what MVRDV are calling the next generation of skyscraper design. 

Chinese property developer Vanke has commissioned the Dutch architecture practice to build its new headquarters tower, a project MVRDV is calling a three dimensional city.

Spread over two plots of land divided by a road, the skyscraper will be an unusual shape made of eight different volumes, each with a different facade, linked together at various levels.

The mixed-use building will contain offices, homes, shops and cultural spaces. Four of the blocks will have indents or holes punched through them to create semi-public outdoor parks and plazas,  with the volumes topped with rooftop gardens.

Instead of a traditional plinth, a sunken, multi-level space at the base of the tower will be given over to a network of green spaces linked by walkways.

The different levels will create shady spots, providing a place for respite on hot days in Shenzhen. This space will connect to the shops and restaurant areas in the bases of the towers.

"Vanke 3D City can be seen as a new type of skyscraper," said MVRDV co-founder Winy Maas.

"By stacking the required programmatic entities, initially proposed for two separate plots, on top of each other, the two individual Vanke Group Headquarter buildings are turned into a Vanke City

"By opening the buildings, a series of giant collective halls are created with a view over the bay and to the world," he added.

"The plazas, gardens, and halls are connected by a series of stairs and elevators, linking the many blocks into a continuous urban fabric high off the ground – a true three-dimensional city."

Engineering firm Arup will be collaborating on the project, with construction due to begin at the end of summer 2019.

Vanke 3D City is a continuation of MVRDV's research, begun in 2009, into the concept of the vertical village. The Rotterdam-based practice has spent almost a decade investigating how community links can be formed and maintained in dense urban environments through "cluster typologies".

The Dutch firm has recently unveiled designs for a low-cost apartment building in India formed of interconnecting blocks arranged around multi-purpose courtyards, and started construction on a vertical village-style tower in New York.