Los Angeles based architecture firm 5+design recently announced that it has broken ground on a new mixed-use project set within the Shui On Land Wuhan Yongqing Master Plan in Wuhan, China.
This project diffuses inside with outside, mixing nature and urban life together, a central theme that runs throughout the project’s retail, residential and office uses.
Angled to soften their urban presence, the project’s modern residential towers run parallel to Zhong Shan Rd, and punctuate finger parks that stretch from the project’s green space to the riverfront.
At the top of the retail podium, an urban farm dawns the rooftop providing education on sustainability and organic gardening opportunities for the surrounding community.
To ensure the retail podium maintains a human scale, each of the mall’s four levels were shifted back. Climbing terraces atop every level of the mall allow for complete engagement and maximum accessibility from all directions.
A retail bridge connects the project between two separate parcels and on top of the bridge, a new restaurant and entertainment village were created, which are both reminiscent of the nearby Wuhan Tiandi.
“The project is designed to engage and interact with the entire community,” said 5+design Design Principal, Arthur Benedetti. “The project creates a lifestyle center focusing on social engagement for the entire master plan and becomes the community's family room.”
A sky bridge floats above the corporate plaza located in the project’s office towers. In the middle of the bridge lies a void that opens up, allowing natural light and landscaping an opportunity to engage with the plaza below.
“We are excited to see the beginning of a project that is very much an original in its approach to merging urban life with the natural environment,” said 5+design Managing Principal, Michael Ellis. “This project is expected to bring a new element to the mix of how a community interacts with retail and in the process, will hopefully showcase a new method of how to bring often polarized design uses together.”
Spanning just over 20 acres, the project will become Wuhan’s first lifestyle project whose design intent aims to maximize community use of its facilities. Through urban sustainability, the project will create walkable districts and neighborhoods that center around transit stations that focus on open spaces and creating a pedestrian-friendly environment.
