BAILONGHEWEI COMMERCIAL AND COMMUNITY COMPLEX

The site location is in Jinwan District, among several high-rise residential compounds, adjacent to a North-South green belt axis leading to the coastline and facing a strip of waterfront green parks to the South that allows beautiful views to the canal.

The site also borders a prime traffic axis leading to the district’s commercial and cultural hub to the North. Due to its prominent position, the project is set to become the ‘heart’ of the neighborhood community.

In order to encourage a healthy community to grow and thrive, we propose a well-rounded approach which combines practical design solutions for educational, cultural and social facilities. The essential ‘infrastructure’ for the neighborhood growth and development will at the same time serve the community’s needs and generate the virtue guidelines for the future district development. We express the idea of bringing the community together not only in one unified architectural gesture but also in terms of creating interconnected alternative spaces for social interactions and for a creative learning experience.

The master plan strategy is to break with the typical buildings arrangement along the site’s boundaries which restricts the community’s interaction with the neighborhood. We opted instead for an enhanced permeability of the site at the ground floor, breaking down the urban fronts into a cluster of detached units for a more effective connection with the surroundings and easier public circulation. By creating a central commercial street and plaza accessible from all sides of the site we aim to design not only a public facility, but a place that can become a ‘Community hub’.

At ground level the plot is highly connected and accessible from entry plazas from all sides. A central public square is added to become a destination for the community social activities such as commercial events, fairs, food markets and concerts. The buildings volumes stacking generates enough space to allow shaded colonnades, plazas and ventilated alleys for public circulation. Furthermore shifting the volumes creates active green rooftops at every level helping to integrate the landscape with the architecture and providing space for multiple outdoor public activities.

In Bailonghewei Commercial and Community Complex we focus on the role of the public space considering it as integral part of the development rather than as a leftover space filling the voids in between the buildings. The central public square ties up together the architecture giving purpose to the entire complex and becoming the man space for social activities and interactions.

The architecture facade is purposely linear and minimalist to enhance the sculptural dynamism of the volumes. The materials choice is limited but the finishing qualities and color vary in every stacked volume according to the function. An elegant stone cladding covers the first two floors of the podium whilst bronze mullions and perforated façade are applied to the upper floors.