Formerly a railway enclave, the Clichy-Batignolles ecodistrict is reconquering this forgotten piece of Parisian ground. This major municipal project was envisioned as a response to the elevated need for housing while paving the way for a durable, mixed-use 21st century city. So much data that had to be compiled to come up with smart solutions for a multi-program block (nursing home, social housing, private housing, religious center, and retail businesses).
Wenzhou is a city that gathers the essence of Shanshui culture in southeast China and its urban vein of “Well Versed with Mountain and River” runs through ancient and modern times. At present, as a super high-rise complex landmark with excellent location along the Oujiang river, Wenzhou Vanke Times Center occupies the common intersection of the city’s main axis and the riverbank landscape line.
K5 Tokyo, housed in a converted 1920s bank building, sits beside the Tokyo Stock Exchange and connects the traditional Imperial Palace area with hip Eastern Tokyo.
The Japanese word ‘Aimai’ guides K5 Tokyo’s concept. It means vague, obscure or ambiguous, which in Japanese is often used in a positive, poetic sense. (The term denotes the benefits of erasing borders.) K5 Tokyo’s functions intentionally intermingle: The library is the bar, while the coffee shop doubles as a lounge, which flows into a wine bar and restaurant.
Montreal’s first “smart vertical community,” this thoroughly modern, mixed-use megaproject features a luxury hotel, condo and rental units, offices, restaurants, boutiques and large public spaces linked to a major park. In harmony with its pluralistic context, it offers varying degrees of permeability with its surroundings, creating spatial moments based on elevation and building depth.
On a pedestrian scale, Humaniti will frame a new public plaza and Place Jean-Paul-Riopelle, whose iconic art centers a new urban room. On a district scale, there is powerful dialogue with the complex’s four distinct neighborhoods: Old Montreal, Downtown, the International Quarter and Quartier des spectacles. On a metropolitan scale, upper levels define a wider urban room framed by Humaniti, Mount Royal and the St. Lawrence River.
Retail spaces are evolving into lifestyle complexes that are inspiring, diversified and immersive to surround visitors with a curated experience to fulfil various lifestyle and social needs. Chengdu’s Xichen Paradise Walk in China, designed by LWK + PARTNERS, encourages social interaction and community life with high transparency and accessibility to bring together people, their neighbourhoods and nature. It is pilot project of the third-generation Paradise Walk brand, setting a new benchmark for future projects.
Xichen Paradise Walk is the retail component of an integrated complex in the heart of west Chengdu, bookended by an office tower and a serviced apartment tower also designed by LWK + PARTNERS and adjacent to the residential component. The architectural form features an interplay of geometric shapes, creating an iconic beacon-like façade. Addressing an important traffic intersection to the south west, the corresponding elevation features an urban-scale shop window designed for the ever-changing, large-scale installations and seasonal contents.
KAAN Architecten unveils the multi-use development designed within the new district of Bottière Chénaie in the North-Eastern area of Nantes (France). The winning entry of an international competition held in 2013, this project is part of a wider urban development plan conceived by urban planner Jean-Pierre Pranlas Descours in collaboration with landscape firm Atelier Bruel-Delmar.
Location: 190 Route de Sainte Luce, 44300 Nantes, France
Photography: Sebastian van Damme
Project team: Dante Borgo, Sebastiaan Buitenhuis, Marc Coma, Sebastian van Damme, Paolo Faleschini, Marylène Gallon, Renata Gilio, Narine Gyulkhasyan, Sophie Ize, Jan Teunis ten Kate, Wouter Langeveld, Julie Le Baud, Yinghao Lin, Aimee Mackenzie, Elsa Marchal, Ismael Planelles Naya, Ana Rivero Esteban, Cécile Sanchez, Yannick Signani, Christian Sluijmer, Joeri Spijkers
Aedas-designed Renhe Town stands at a prime location adjacent to Chengdu Government’s New Administration Center. The development comprises residential units at Phase 1 and commercial mixed-use complex at Phase 2. Continuing the minimalist design of Phase 1, the designer, Aedas Executive Director Cary Lau, brings forward a commercial landmark with a unique silhouette that carries a classic elegance of the Orient.
The project is an extension designed to host private residential spaces as well as spaces for a local artists community. The intervention connects and mediates the presence of two existing volumes; it grows around the two separated units generating different light conditions, fusing in a non-linear sequence the existing programs and the “new”, which comprises of creative disciplines such as sculpting, painting, pottery. The volumes weave around in their bare materiality enveloping more private and secluded spaces, interiors that are of three types: meditation, rest and discussion.
“The transparent and accessible podium level of 9th & Thomas is articulated in an eclectic style that references the evolutionary process of a community like South Lake Union. The building has parts and pieces that move and change, open and close. It’s intentionally inviting walk-in traffic, and my hope is that the public lobby slows down the neighborhood and establishes a sense of place.” – Tom Kundig, FAIA, RIBA, Design Principal
We are excited to kick of the new year with a new project in Russia. In a competition organized by Citymakers, ODA won the bid to design a 3 million SF master plan right outside of Moscow for the developer Glavstroy. It will be a large mixed-use development intended to regenerate industrial zones just outside Moscow City. The city has a significant number of these post-industrial sites in valuable areas, directly aligned with main transportation vectors. The MAZD master plan will be a comprehensive kickoff for the conversion of the industrial Magistralnye Ulitsy territory. The MAZD area is 9.3 ha. and will, in many ways, affect the further development of the surrounding neighborhood. It is ODA’s objective to create a meaningful contribution to the development of this urban fabric, one that will, overtime, set the guidelines for a more pedestrian, green and mixed redevelopment, and one that will become a destination in this valuable part of the city.
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