DAZHU COMMERCIAL STREET

The site is located in Dazhu County, a remote region in Eastern Sichuan. The natural quality of the surrounding environment is outstanding: gentle bamboo hills surround a quiet and peaceful with natural islands and a rich biodiversity. The site is only 20 min drive from the famous touristic location Wufeng Mountain Forest Park and a newly built touristic resort which will inevitably become the main source of visitors for the commercial street object of our design.

The two areas assigned to the project are part of a larger lot set to be developed as a high-rise residential compound. Our design strategy is to connect the two separate hills via a commercial street exclusively for pedestrians in which the buildings are distributed along the existing sloped terrain directly into the nature landscape, allowing a 360° view over the lake.

Three main viewing platforms are designed in the natural landscape of the lake’s shore. These platform are designed to host commercial events, weddings or simply as a resting area for the hikers visiting the area.

The commercial units are distributed on one or two levels and have been subdivided into three main modules of different sizes. The modular nature of the design that will contribute to a more flexible offer for the tenants while maintaining the diversity necessary for the place-making.

Continuous sloped roofs create a double height inner space that also matches with the nature preservation and cultural heritage. Also this rhythm of the elevation will become one of the main features of this project, giving visual continuity all along the masterplan.

All along the landscape, we propose to create a path right next to the lake, along this path we introduce several activities related to nature and highlight the cultural heritage of Dazhu, it thus becomes not only a path but also an experience itself with various activities such as running track, flower gardens, amphitheater, bamboo forest or animal farm for example. At the same time this path is connected to the bamboo commercial street in few points that allows us to integrate nature environment around into the project.