Beijing architects [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] have designed a skyscraper for Chongqing, China, with gardens at each level.

Rather than consider the project vertically, the architects envisage
a stack of floors, each slice shifted horizontally to create spaces for
gardens and patios.

The 385 metre-high building will be called Urban Forest.

Here’s some text from MAD:
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Urban Forest
By the end of 2009, MAD has completed the concept design of a 385
meter high metropolitan cultural complex in the city center of
Chongqing – The Urban Forest.

This is the third skyscraper designed by MAD following the Absolute
Towers in Toronto and the Sinosteel International Plaza in Tianjin,
China.

MAD proposes a new architectural concept for the course of Chinese
urban development – to actualize a sustainable multidimensional
high-rise within China’s youngest municipality, where nature
reincorporates into the high-density urban environment in the near
future, to evoke the affection for nature once lost in the oriental
ancient world and bring to the modern city dwellers.

In the year of 1997, Chongqing became the fourth direct municipality in China.

As an important pole of the growing economy in western China, the
city area of Chongqing is more than twice of those of Beijing, Shanghai
and Tianjin combined.
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Such macro-scale urbanization should not only pushes economic growth
and material prosperity, but also foster the evolution of the city’s
cultural essence. Chinese cities have gone through the process of once
starting from nothing, to following contemporary Western civilization
urban pattern. Now, the overall economic infrastructure has oriented
the direction of future development towards inland China.

What lies in the future of cities? How should one grasp the concept
of emerging high-density cities of China in the context of a scenic
town such as Chongqing? How does one discuss the future of architecture
in Chinese cities on the base of Eastern Naturalist perspective and in
the new context of China’s unique economic, social environment and
globalization background? How to engage the city dwellers with an
experience of nature when its presence of steadily diminishes in the
face of the ever intensifying concrete jungle.

Throughout the process of contemporary Western urbanization,
skyscrapers were the symbol of technological competitions, prime
capitals and the formal enslavement of the powerful and the rich.
Sustainable ecology became more of a demand for comfort; while the
yearning of a return to nature was left ignored. The Urban Forest draws
inspiration from the perspective of nature and the man-made in Eastern
Philosophy, and ties the urban city life with the natural outdoor
experiences.
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The shape of the architecture mimics mountain range, shifting in a
dynamic and yet holistic rhythm, and becomes a continuation of nature.
Unlike its preceding counterparts, The Urban Forest no longer
emphasizes on vertical force, instead it concentrates on the
multidimensional relationships within complex anthropomorphic spaces:
multilayer sky gardens, floating patios and minimal and yet well lit
nesting spaces, the architectural form dissolves into the fluid spatial
movements between air, wind, and light. In this environment, people
encounter nature filled with unexpected surprises.
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The fusion between Eastern humanism spirit and urban public spaces
pioneers in the making of a sustainable multidimensional city – The
Urban Forest will not be a piece of mediocre urban machinery, but an
artificial organ that lives and breathes new life in the
steel-and-concrete-filled city center.

Chongqing, the youngest municipality in China, holds great potential
in its urban planning and construction and has the capability to be
built into a most livable city, a city of pleasant environments, a
traffic-jam-free city, even into a city that runs into a complete urban
forest. A city with aspiration and vitality shall be courageous in
envisioning and designing its great future. – Bo Xilai (Mayor of
Chongqing)

In October 2009, The Urban Forest from MAD debuted in the
Heart-Made, Europalia exhibition at the 2009 Europalia China. It
represents the most challenging dream of the contemporary Chinese
architecture — a type of urban landmark that rises from the affection
for nature. It is no longer a static icon but an organic form that
changes all the time with people’s perception.

Director in Charge: Ma Yansong, Dang Qun
Design Team: Yu Kui, Diego Perez, Zhao Wei, Chie Fuyuki, Fu Changrui,
Jtravis B Russett, Dai Pu, Irmgard Reiter, Rasmus Palmqvist, Qin
Lichao, Xie Xinyu
Location: Chongqing, China
Typology: Commercial, Office, Hotel
Site Area: 7,700 sqm
Building Area: 216,000 sqm
Building Height: 385 m
Architectural Design: MAD Ltd
Structural Design: ARUP Group Ltd

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Posted by Rose Etherington from dezeen.com