How long does it take for a plane tree to grow thirty meters tall?

In the lingering heart of Shanghai’s September, a turn from Zhaojiabang Road and stepping onto Xiangyang Road beneath the canopy of plane trees brings immediate coolness. The shade slows each footstep, and time itself seems to loosen its grasp softly.

South Xiangyang Road, originally named Route Tenant de la Tour, was built by the French Concession Public Board between 1918 and 1921. Along the 1,499 meters long, 16 meters wide street is dotted with hotels, villas, 1930s lane houses, kindergarten and schools, fresh markets, office buildings, trendy cafés, and landmark malls. While traffic runs from south to north in one direction, yet human movement flows freely. Each space opens itself to the small rituals of everyday life here. 

The office windows overlook the street.

Between Zhaojiabang Road and Middle Huaihai Road, Xiangyang Road intersects five streets. Completed in 2003, as one of the few office building here, its mixed-use nature—apartment-hotels, offices, and commercials—has fostered a lively ecosystem of studios, boutique cafés, gyms, dance classrooms, salons, and bistros etc. Together, they become a micro community.

Located in the podium of the building, atelier mearc office is framed by two full height windows on its east and south sides. Just outside, two towering plane trees stand within arm reach that their crowns stretching to six or seven-story, and braches and leaves shimmering like amber in the afternoon sunshine. 

If the street represents the open public picture of the city, and the building a more enclosed semi-private community, the office sits between the two. It serves as a transitional space between the two, guiding the gaze from the street inward and then back out to the urban fabric.

The podium shares the same structural system with the tower above, combining the scale of apartments with larger office layouts.

The foyer of in-situ concrete at the entrance is arranged like a “contactless” showcase. Passersby may peer through the glass door, gaining a first impression of atelier mearc and scan the adjacent QR code if drawn to know more. With its understated presence, the foyer creates a line of dialogue with the building. 

The design begins with a triangular space, from which four spaces extend eastward. The original north-south residential circulation has been reoriented east-west, integrating both the home comfort and openness of public space along the way. 

Parallel to the triangular entrance, three sequential spaces extend from west to east, retaining the typical ceiling heights of residential spaces. This preserves human scale familiarity and by altered modes of entry to obtain a public spatial experience.

The floor is gradually raised and steps are added at the junctions between spaces. Using the architectural approach to establish a clear and directional physical memory. For daily users, the act of ascending and descending these steps evokes the experience of ritual and stability.

Following a path that blends familiarity with subtle strangeness to arrive the living space at the east end.

The spatial form recalls the living room in a residence, distinguished by an adjustment of height that redefines the relationship between aperture and the body scale. The raised floor and additional steps, combined with two full height windows, transform the space into a more open and enriched public area. The graceful presence of plane trees extend through the glass into living room, dawn and dusk, turning of the seasons, all unfold as part of the space itself. At night, interior light softly filters through the windows that brings dynamic experience. 

Along the west wall of the living room, a row of bookshelves from its first office on Yongjia Road was installed. This forms part of the project’s sustainable design while preserving an emotional continuity across time and space.

Taking low-carbon goals in consideration, the sustainable strategy encompasses both energy reduction and the recycling of materials and furniture to complete the project from construction to use.

Key measures for energy efficiency focus on insulation and airtightness. A new insulation system is designed to prevent thermal bridging. All doors and windows are updated by high-performance designs and detailing to achieve excellent airtightness.

During working hours, the office utilizes the building’s central AC system, supplemented by a VRV AC unit during transitional seasons and periods without heating or cooling. In spring and autumn, motorized full height windows provide natural ventilation. Additionally, an ERV system enhances energy the overall recovery efficiency performance.

Through the implementation of this integrated system, the office now achieves an annual energy consumption of 70 kWh per square meter, reducing unit energy use by 25% compared to the previous one.

The low-energy strategies trialed at the previous office have been refined and improved here. Entering the foyer evoke nostalgic memory. Recut titanium-zinc panels lines the ceiling, awaking the once “empty space.”

Flooring, desks, chairs, bookshelves, and some switches and sockets are recycled from the previous office; nearly half of the equipment, materials, and furniture have been reused.

This time design starts from spatial experience and places function afterward. The design begins by exploring how to maintain contact and connection with people over a certain distance, determining how many intermediary spaces are needed in the “street–building–office–street” journey. Small triangular space is introduced to the building, through a staggered entry, the path unfolds across the unit and reach the “living room” overlooking Xiangyang Road. Here, space provides stability, while human perception shifts, redefining the relationship with the street. The four steps of the office mediate between the building's micro-community environment and the dynamic, pedestrian-heavy city street.

Office functions are “belatedly” integrated into the space by furniture setting. A series of existing furniture pieces such as long tables, storage units, model desk, shelves are combined, making the spatial functions ambiguous yet more flexible. Architectural order is treated as a rule above mere plan rationality, while urban connection is expressed through architectural form.

The sustainable design principles applied in this project continue those of the previous office; the connection with the street and community recalls the “indoor Chaling Road” in Kanghui Community project; and the dialogue between residential and public spaces along the X and Y axes echoes “Begonia Inn”. Here it is, in the shades of thriving trees, surrounded by lively street life.