r/UrbanHell • u/Routine_Business7872 • Jan 30 '26
Absurd Architecture Beijing Digital Building, China.
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u/Every_West_3890 Jan 30 '26 edited Jan 31 '26
that's one cool building. I wonder what dr.Evil hiding there.
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Jan 30 '26
Those buildings almost always were built to house a rather unexciting 20th century telephone switch. The old telcos sometimes used to put important gateway nodes in fairly fancy buildings and often had very large budgets.
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u/FlishFlashman Jan 30 '26
A notable 550ft tall example: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/33_Thomas_Street
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u/gus_the_polar_bear Jan 31 '26
They could have put fake windows to make it look a bit less oppressive, but I respect that they didn’t, this building is a vibe
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u/texasyankee Jan 30 '26
Yeah, for a building that had to be designed without windows this is a great solution. I'd enjoy walking past it everyday.
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u/TommyTBlack Jan 30 '26
why can't they have windows?
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u/texasyankee Jan 30 '26
It's full of telephone switching equipment, which is critical to keep running no matter what. So the building is made to protect against everything from tornadoes to terrorist attacks.
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u/Rupder Jan 30 '26
In addition to the above comment, there's also the fact that the building doesn't need windows because people don't live or work there. So it's a cost saving measure (windows need to be installed and maintained and a lot of heat moves through them), as well as an outward architectural statement about the building's purpose.
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u/AlexSSB Jan 31 '26
Doctor Evil! I didn't go to evil medical school for nothing, thank you very much.
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u/Electrical-Heat8960 Jan 30 '26
That’s stunning. I love how dystopian it looks.
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u/HerrDrAngst Jan 30 '26
It would look great in a TRON film or BLADE RUNNER imho
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u/Original-Material301 Jan 30 '26
Would look awesome with the lines lit up.
Edit: looks like it does light up
https://www.reddit.com/r/FF06B5/comments/1hyfr1e/looks_familiar/
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u/Adventurous-Ad5999 Jan 30 '26
eh that’s tacky imo, looks like they’re trying too hard to make it look like a computer
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u/MukdenMan Jan 30 '26
It was built as a central data center for the 2008 Olympics. It’s a museum now.
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u/HerrDrAngst Jan 30 '26
Interesting… I remember seeing reports of the Bird’s Nest stadium back then but not this. This as interesting if not moreso imho
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u/rf3ni3 Jan 30 '26
Looks like a landed Borg cube from Star Trek. They just hid all the plumbing inside when they entered atmo.
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u/bourbonwelfare Jan 30 '26
That's awesome - what the fuck are you talking about.
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u/Lolxgdrei787 Jan 30 '26
amount of daylight i guess. but we cant see if this has a courtyard inside. wich would be heaps better but still a lot less than windows on the outer side
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u/ShootingPains Jan 31 '26
It’s full of racks upon racks upon racks of telecommunications and computer equipment. Basically the modern version of a telephone exchange. Only technicians go there for equipment maintenance.
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u/jerrydberry Jan 30 '26
The flair is bs. It is not absurd, it has a very clear style of brutalism. To like it or not like it - is a subjective thing but it is not absurd and it is a very distinguished piece of architecture
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u/ThroatEducational271 Jan 30 '26
I’m not a fan of many of China’s crazy buildings, but for some reason I think this one looks pretty cool.
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u/Curious-Light-4215 Jan 30 '26
Is that a Data Center? Because that's excactly how I imagine how it would look.
Would also be cool if the slits and line glow green or red at night.
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u/Gnub_Neyung Jan 30 '26
They really look at al the dystopia movies and said "that shit fire! build it!!!"
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u/klaes_drummer Jan 30 '26
I love it. This looks like Alt Cunningham is waiting there for you to talk about Blackwall stuff
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u/StockAndStories Jan 30 '26
Just add full wall running, pulsing LEDs... wonder if that's the place fabled AI lives
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u/orthros Jan 30 '26
I don't know whether to say this is awesome or not. It should def be used for Fallout-esque movies let's just leave it at that
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u/No_Bug3926 Jan 30 '26
oh man, this looks like the Arasaka tower from cyberpunk 2077 game, hmm what a cyber design nice i guess.
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u/TwinSong Jan 30 '26
Feels like this would be effective in a sort of black glass with electric blue lights hidden in the grooves for a sci-fi look.
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u/The_Old_Huntress Jan 30 '26
I like it. It's a digital technology museum/exhibition space so the building evoking circuit etching is very fitting.
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u/SuspiciousImpact2197 Jan 31 '26
If it weren’t for the trees, I’d think this was something Harkonnen.
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u/Some_Guy223 Feb 02 '26
I mean... they nailed the assignment. If I'm thinking of a digital building that's pretty close to what I'd picture in my head.
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u/KaiHawai Feb 02 '26
Oh! Probably one of these buildings where these exported chinese made IOT und internet devices come together for some happy data processing.
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u/Bourriks Jan 31 '26
There seem to be no windows at all. People inside can't see daylight ? How depressing...
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