ArchShowcase 
Sumit Singhal
Sumit Singhal loves modern architecture. He comes from a family of builders who have built more than 20 projects in the last ten years near Delhi in India. He has recently started writing about the architectural projects that catch his imagination. Gateway One Shekou in Shenzhen, China by SPARKMay 2nd, 2017 by Sumit Singhal
Article source: SPARK PROJECT SUMMARY SPARK has completed the design of Gateway One a 71,600-square-metre mixed-use development and transportation hub for China Merchants. Located in Shenzhen South China the 110-metre-high, 27-storey office tower and five retail pavilions are connected by landscaped terraces that combine to create a unique naturally ventilated retail and business destination for the lively Skekou district of the city. The buildings sit over and adjacent to a new transportion hub that includes a bus terminal and the Seaworld subway station.  Image Courtesy © SKPhoto
 Image Courtesy © SKPhoto Gateway One is located at the southern tip of Shenzhen on the Nantou Peninsula, an area of outstanding natural beauty. Surrounded by water on three sides, Shekou wraps around the verdant Danan and Xiaonan mountains. The relationship between the dramatic subtropical coastline and its history of human intervention that generated the inspiration for SPARK’s design. The architecture, landscape and interior design of the Gateway One Development were all designed by SPARK, the design language and motifs used are consistent providing Gateway One with a distinctive urban-garden identity.  Image Courtesy © SKPhoto  Image Courtesy © SKPhoto DESIGN DESCRIPTION Urban Design Concept: The City Room The ground level of Gateway One is intentionally permeable facilitating pedestrian connections from adjacent city streets to the heart of the development. Taking inspiration from the Renaissance Nolli map of Rome where the boundaries between public and private spaces are combined to expanded to create more places for people.  Image Courtesy © SKPhoto  Image Courtesy © SKPhoto Spark Director Wenhui Lim comments: ‘‘Landscaped routes extend from the city into the sunken garden, upper level terraces and event plazas within the Gateway One development, enriching the urban experience. ‘‘ Pedestrian connections from the metro station, bus terminal, office tower and the adjacent Shekou Seaworld development are routed through the the porous plan of Gateway One. Physical and visual connections within and from Gateway One have been carefully orchestrated to make an easily navigable and enjoyable experience for the visitor’’.  Image Courtesy © SKPhoto  Image Courtesy © SKPhoto Architectural Concept: Layered Hillscape Office On a broad urban scale, the office tower will be the project’s most distinctive component. Located on the corner of Taizi and Gongye third roads the office tower rises from a new verdant public square to a height of 27 levels marking the location of the most important commercial and leisure destination in Shekou. The tower has been designed to provide 1100m2 of column free flexible floorplates with full digital connectivity to meet the demands of 21st century office users. Each office floor has full height glazing with spectacular ocean views over Shenzhen bay with mountain views to the North.  Image Courtesy © SKPhoto  Image Courtesy © SKPhoto The office tower’s base is connected to the adjacent retail pavilions physically and materially. The linear stone and aluminium façade of the retail pavilions merges with the tower façade anchoring the tower to the ground bringing visual continuity to the entire development. The upper retail terrace is connected directly to the office tower at level three giving office users year round weather protected access to the retail pavilions and supporting infrastructure. The architecture, landscape and Interiors all work in harmony to provide the Gateway One Development a rich layered, distinctive identity. More than just a commercial development the project is seen as a community meeting place for Shekou , creating a premier address for business and lifestyle.  Image Courtesy © SKPhoto  Image Courtesy © SKPhoto Retail Five conjoined retail pavilions are arranged to create convivial human scale courtyards that are well connected to the existing city streets. Four of the pavilions are clustered together protecting the heart of the development. The fifth pavilion an ‘‘urban lantern’’ straddles the centre of triangular site, articulating and providing a focal point for the two courtyards. ‘‘We have created spaces between the perimeter pavilions to connect the development directly to the city,’’ explains SPARK Director Stephen Pimbley. ‘‘These will provide routes into and through the retail ‘‘rooms’’ to integrate the project with the wider existing urban fabric,’’ he said.  Image Courtesy © SKPhoto  Image Courtesy © SKPhoto The four-storey pavilions are finished in horizontally layered panels of stone and aluminium, inspired by the rock strata of the adjacent mountains. The layering provides the project with a rich textural and colour palette and a building scale that deliberately does not dominate but compliments and completes the busy Shekou streets. The entry corners of the pavilions are ‘‘softened’’ encouraging pedestrian flow into and through the development. The pavilions have continuous glazed shop fronts at ground-floor maximising retail frontage designed to animate the city streets and courtyards.  Image Courtesy © SKPhoto  Image Courtesy © SKPhoto ‘‘With the retail environment flowing seamlessly into the interior courtyards at street level, the internal scale of these ‘‘retail rooms’’ will provide an intimate experience,’’ says Stephen Pimbley. The upper-level terraces wrap around the central lantern that opens onto terraced intimate dining destinations. The dining terraces help the building to remain vibrant outside the normal retail hours. ‘‘It’s a layered, open urban retail concept,’’ says Stephen Pimbley ‘‘that creates a unique environment in which to shop, work and play.’’  Image Courtesy © SKPhoto Landscape Concept: Flowing Hillscape Inspiration for the landscape design is drawn from the human- scale of Shekou and the rich natural landscape surrounding the town and the layers of rock strata of the surrounding mountains. The synergy between indoor and outdoor space creates a seamless integration of interior and landscape design throughout the development. The landscape weaves through the development in harmony with the horizontally layered architecture. It is composed of banded stone layers punctuated with metallic accent strips, inspired by the seams of precious elements found in naturally occurring rock formations.  Image Courtesy © SPARK The perimeter landscaping softens the footprint of the building, the sculptural planters and plant selection combined with the paving texture help moderate the building scale whilst directing people into the development. Paving and planting are complementary in texture, material and tone, a structure of textured landscape layers. The layers begin with the perimeter planting facing the street, progress to the lower arrival ‘‘room’’, then rising to the lantern terrace crowned by the green roofs of the retail pavilions.  Image Courtesy © SPARK Interior Concept: Intimate Hillscape The unique outdoor mall concept permits continuity of the layered external façade to continue into the interior spaces of the courtyards ‘‘retail rooms’’ The wayfinding and graphic design options draws from the same colour palette to complement and enhance the warm natural tones of the façade.  Image Courtesy © SPARK About SPARK SPARK is a Singapore, Shanghai and London based team of designers and thinkers working in the disciplines of architecture, urbanism, interior design, landscape design, research and branding. Using the evocation of the studio’s name ‘‘SPARK’’; we produce stimulating, innovative, award winning buildings and urban environments that generate significant added value for our clients.  Image Courtesy © SPARK SPARK’s studios have built a large number of award winning projects throughout Asia, Europe and the Middle East. Our work is influenced by the constant evolution of contemporary life and the influences upon it that require a fresh approach to urban thinking. SPARK’s work ranges in scale from boutique shops, residential, mixed-use waterfronts, and civic buildings to urban planning. Our projects are enjoyable to use, functional, beautiful to look at and easy to understand.  Stephen Pimbley, Image Courtesy © SPARK  Wenhui Lim, Image Courtesy © SPARK  Image Courtesy © SPARK  Image Courtesy © SPARK  Image Courtesy © SPARK
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Categories: Bus Terminal, Business Centre, Commercial Area, Commercial Building, Mixed use, Office Building, office Complex, Office space, Offices, Retail, Retail facilities, Transportation Center |
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