Ben van Berkel: “Shopping malls are the public spaces of Chinese cities. These retail complexes are not simply places to shop, they are all-in-one destinations for outings and social gatherings. They are also places where culture and commerce merge and where architecture can express this expansive condition.”
The best of both worlds
Collaboration was key for the creation of a symbiotic relationship between the commercial aspirations and the architectural interventions. While Nihon Sekkei were asked to develop the outer shell of the retail center, UNStudio was tasked with fleshing out the mall as a placemaking destination for customers and the larger community. This included the design of the inner courtyard and its facades, the full interior of the mall and a public rooftop terrace.
UNStudio: Ben van Berkel, Astrid Piber, Hannes Pfau with Ger Gijzen, Marc Salemink, Sontaya Bluangtook and Daniele de Benedictis, Dongbo Han, Enrique Lopez, Lars van Hoften, Tiia Vahula, Martin Zangerl, Mo Lai, Ningzhu Wang, Shuang Zhang, Marta Piaseczynska, Chao Liu, Cristina Bolis, Tom Wong, Yang Li
The offices, showrooms and production halls of the Van Hoecke company are enlarged by means of two extensions in the multipurpose building on the one hand and in the production hall and the office building on the other.
The new multipurpose building is adjacent to the production hall and consists of two storeys. It is planned at the rear of the site. Landscape architects provide an environmental layout on this side of the plot.
Article source: Beijing China Virtue Architectural Design Co., Ltd
Located in the Fourth Ring Green Park at the Fourth Ring, Chaoyang District, Beijing, the YouChoose Holdings Office Complex consists of two single-buildings, which are the quadrangle courtyard office building and the golf club that covers an outdoor area of 3200 ㎡ and an indoor area of 4300 ㎡. In order to meet the office and business needs of the young team of the owner, the design focus on the quadrangle courtyard garden, associate with the comprehensive transformation and upgrading of “office building space and golf club”, and create a humanistic office complex of Chinese.
Today, MVRDV is revealing its design for an office building that will renovate and enlarge one of the last projects completed by celebrated Dutch architect Aldo van Eyck, the Tripolis office complex in Amsterdam. Named Tripolis Park, the project comprises the renovation of the old buildings, a new park, and a new office block that will create a sheltering screen to protect the complex from noise created by the adjacent highway while embracing the Van Eyck-designed buildings behind. Renovation work on the existing buildings will begin next week, with the project scheduled for completion in 2022.
Article source: RTA Studio + Irving Smith Architects
RTA Studio and Irving Smith Architects was commissioned to reimagine the Rotorua headquarters of Scion, a Crown Research Institute that specialises in technology development for the forestry industry. Aptly located on the edge of the redwood forest in Whakarewarewa Forest Park, the project brings the workforce, previously siloed in smaller buildings dotted around the campus, into a central innovation hub while creating a new campus arrival point to strengthen the public interface for Scion.
Infinitus Plaza is the new global headquarters of Infinitus China. Incorporating work environments designed to nurture connectivity, creativity and entrepreneurship, the new headquarters also includes the group’s herbal medicine research facilities and safety assessment labs as well as a learning centre for conferences and exhibitions.
The 185,643 sq. m Infinitus Plaza defines a gateway to the new Baiyun Central Business District. Built on the site of the decommissioned Baiyun Airport, the new district links Guangzhou’s city centre with Feixiang Gongyuan Park and the new communities within the former airport’s redevelopment. Located adjacent to Feixiang Park station on Line 2 of the Guangzhou Metro, Infinitus Plaza straddles the metro’s sub-surface tunnel, dividing the headquarters into two buildings that interconnect at multiple levels.
An early modern icon of its generation, this historically significant building is undergoing a sensitive and carefully considered program of restoration, modernization, and improvement.
The repositioning of 1271 Avenue of the Americas comprises five interdependent and parallel projects: facade replacement, lobby restoration and upgrade, plaza improvement, elevator modernization, and significant MEP system upgrades throughout the building.
OMA’s only built project in Japan up until 2012 can be found in Fukuoka. The Nexus World Housing complex was completed more than twenty-five years ago. Local developer Fukuoka Jisho commissioned Arata Isozaki to develop a masterplan that introduces a “new urban lifestyle,” for which OMA was invited as one of six architects to design a freestanding housing block.
Fukuoka is the seventh biggest city in Japan, known for its distinct cultural identity. Its central location among major cities of East Asia positions the city as a gateway into Japan, contributing to its standing as the economic center of Kyushu Island. The city has been thriving over the last decade, ranking highly in livability, ratio of younger population, and percentage of start-ups.
Set within a tropical climate, the pre-cast façade manipulates the orientation of sun shading to craft the beautiful illusion that is Concreate Waves. Set to be completed in three phases, the project is part of a new industrial zone east of Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. Conceptually, the design direction continues on from the learnings of G8A’s earlier research and development centre projects exploring the “yard typology”, inspired by Vietnamese village spaces that are distributed around a central courtyard. This massing strategy enhances natural ventilation, offers clear access and circulation routes and proposes a welcoming community space for the users.
107 Forbes is a new single-tenant Core & Shell office building that sits veritably in pole position at the literal gateway to both the City’s historic core and the West Annapolis neighborhood it resides within. The new building replaces one of a series of small-scale commercial buildings which sit immediately along Rowe Boulevard. Following revisions to the zoning code, the strip of land they occupy has been rendered unbuildable due to a uniform setback applied along Rowe Boulevard which engulfs the entire depth of these sites. In order to build a new structure here the building had to fit essentially within the existing footprint and maintain similar bulk, height, and floor area.
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