The 6,220-square-meter Complex uses innovative spatial organizations to integrate diverse functions in the brief--a kindergarten, neighborhood shops/restaurants, ball courts, public gardens, and a waterfront promenade--into a unique public space, synergically serving the daily needs of the local commnuity in a densecity.

(1) Flanked by a river and a high-density residential area, the project creates five pocket gardens--public nodal spaces much needed by Chinese cities. This is achieved on a tight site by stacking different functions vertically. Against traditional practice, the design places the kindergarten in Building A on top of a public walkway and shops, which allows both the kindergarten and the public functions to work better. In Building E, a second-floor street provides easy access to restaurants above the ground level.

(2) In plan, the pocket gardens are located alternatively with five buildings. Such an interlocking relationship facilitates garden users to fetch drinks and food from nearby shops, fusing indoor and outdoor spaces together just like in traditional Chinese courtyards.

(3) Suggested by the architect, the roofs of the commercial buildings （B，C，D）become community ball courts, providing low-cost recreation to young people and generating visual stimulus to the elderly sitting in the gardens. The irregular chain link fences of the ball courts add a dynamic but inexpensive touch to the architectural form and, by extending its use to other parts of the buildings, help to unify the building appearance. The climbing plants on the fences is transforming the mesh into a layer of translucent green facade.

(4) To accomodate more usersin such a high-density setting, a large portion of the garden ground is paved, with planting mostly in tree pits or on vertical/overhead planes. A few lawns are protected by sittable edges or railings (can be opened during community festivals) against erosions by heavy human activities.