Located along the Qiantang River in Hangzhou’s Qianjiang Century City, Shuiyunjian Commercial Center is a 160,000-square-metre waterfront development designed by Aedas. Positioned between the Hangzhou International Expo Center, Qianjiang Century Park, and the future Qiantang Bay Headquarters Base, the project occupies a fragmented site divided by the Hou Jiefang River and surrounding roads.
Rather than forming a conventional enclosed shopping mall, the development is organized as a series of interconnected low-rise blocks. Outdoor circulation, landscaped routes, and public spaces create a more permeable commercial environment and strengthen connections between the city and waterfront.
The site was subject to a 24-metre height restriction alongside high-density development requirements. A network of building volumes, landscape, and pedestrian routes accommodates the required programme while maintaining a relatively low-rise character.
Water as the basis for the master plan
The master plan, known as ‘Qianjiang Ripples’, draws on the image of a droplet striking water and creating expanding ripples. Three clusters are arranged across the site around lifestyle and entertainment, arts and culture, and innovation and technology.
Together, the clusters form a framework described as ‘One Axis, Three Activity Cores’, distributing the commercial programme across several connected buildings rather than a single enclosed volume. Curving building forms respond to the irregular site, while landscaped promenades, pedestrian routes, and visual corridors connect parcels divided by roads and waterways.
Facade materials and daylight
The facades combine champagne and silver anodised aluminium panels with high-performance low-iron glazing. The aluminium panels were selected for their durability and reduced maintenance requirements, while the glazing supports daylight access and visual connections between interior spaces and the waterfront.
Different facade treatments are used across the buildings while maintaining a related visual character, with references to water patterns, rainfall, and reflections.
Photovoltaic roofing
Approximately 2,000 square metres of photovoltaic roofing is incorporated into the development. The PV installation follows the concentric-circle geometry of the roof design. According to the project information, the system is expected to generate about 900,000 kWh of electricity annually, with reported energy savings equivalent to around 99 tonnes of standard coal per year.
Open-air circulation and reduced conditioned space
The low-rise configuration is closely related to the project's environmental strategy. Rather than relying on fully enclosed circulation, the development incorporates extensive outdoor routes, ramps, stairs, terraces, and elevated connections.
This arrangement increases permeability across the site and allows much of the pedestrian circulation to remain outdoors, reducing the amount of enclosed space that requires mechanical conditioning compared with a conventional shopping mall. These outdoor spaces also connect commercial uses with the waterfront.
A dual-ground-floor strategy
The site’s changing levels are incorporated into a dual-ground-floor retail strategy. The lower level faces the Qiantang River, with terraces, stepped seating, and waterfront public spaces, while an upper ground floor connects directly to the city streets. Outdoor ramps and staircases link the two levels and extend pedestrian circulation through the development.
By incorporating the site’s existing topography, the design distributes activity across multiple elevations while maintaining connections between the city and river.
A flexible framework for future uses
The development incorporates flexible floor plans intended to accommodate changing programme requirements. Outside the necessary core elements, large open areas can be adapted to different commercial uses and configurations over time.
This flexibility allows spaces to be reconfigured as tenant requirements change without requiring wholesale alterations to the building layout.
Connecting the city and waterfront
A network of bridges, elevated walkways, terraces, and outdoor circulation routes create multiple connections between the city, commercial spaces, and waterfront.
Shuiyunjian Commercial Center addresses sustainability primarily through its spatial organization. Its low-rise open-air configuration, photovoltaic roofing, landscape integration, daylight-oriented facade, and flexible floor planning reduce reliance on enclosed conditioned circulation and support future adaptability. The available project information does not provide quantified embodied-carbon performance or a whole-building operational-carbon rating.
