The Celestial Depth

Shi Yang

The Celestial Depth，Ping An Fiance Center Shenzhen

• Landscape Architects

Nestled atop Shenzhen’s tallest skyscraper, Ping An Finance Center, the project comprises a minus one-meter sunken atrium at the core of the 118th floor, the reception area on the 117th floor, and a nearly six-meter-high facade curtain wall linking the two levels.

As the atrium garden of a top-floor club in a super high-rise building, the design seeks to craft a freehand yet concise spiritual space through refined yet profound natural elements and symbolic approaches.

The garden is named “Weiyang” (The Celestial Depth). In ancient Chinese, “Yang” means “the center,” while “Weiyang” translates to “not yet half”—a poetic metaphor for endless continuation beyond the peak.

Bestowed on a garden within a 118-story structure, the name embodies aspirations of enduring prosperity without decline, an infinite journey with no end.

| Abstraction

Inspired by kare-sansui (dry landscape gardens), the atrium design simplifies the forms of traditional natural elements. Natural stones are replaced with sculpturally treated stone blocks, and geometric shapes such as circles, squares, triangles, and quadrangular pyramids are integrated—streamlining the design language with contemporary precision and imbuing the space with stronger symbolism.

A continuous, infinitely flowing abstract water feature cascades from the elevator lobby on the 118th floor to the 117th floor. Within this compact span, it encapsulates four states of water: “source,” “current,” “waterfall,” and “pond,” visually and spatially unifying the two levels.

| Stone Treatment

All phenomena arise from stone; all existence converges in stone. Stone serves as a metaphor for the myriad forms of the universe.

| Boundless Mirror

Rooted in the Chinese perspective of nature—where all things undergo constant transformation, cyclical renewal, and eternal vitality—the design incorporates mirror elements to create a boundless plane. This interacts with the abstract circle (symbolizing heaven) and square (symbolizing earth), forming an infinite extension across the four directions, heaven, and earth.