African project:
International project:
Cubana nightclub
Vanke-Shoukai
OF THINGS TO COME
This four-storey building designed by SPARK showcases the variety of office
and retail spaces soon to be created at Vanke-Shoukai’s mixed-use development
in Daxing, China.
T
he sales gallery was conceived as the combination of a playfully arranged showcase pavilion
topped by a pragmatically organised office box. The amalgamation of these two volumes and
the large-scale cantilevers create a spatial complexity of the interior and the exterior . The
sales gallery and its landscaped surroundings will demonstrate the design direction of the
new leisure and business centre, with an emphasis on the human scale and a prioritisation of
functional ambiance. It aspires to blur the boundaries between indoor and outdoor spaces,
and retail and recreation zones, with spatial transitions that encourage voluntary discovery
and a dynamic experience.
SPARK’s design for the Vanke-Shoukai Mixed-use Development Daxing aims to blur the
boundaries between indoor and outdoor spaces, and between retail and recreational zones. It creates a large
open park between high- and low-rise blocks, where the human scale predominates and spatial transitions
encourage voluntary discovery.
The development is at the epicentre of a larger master plan for the Daxing district in southern Beijing. This
district will act as a major destination between the future airport and Beijing’s central core – a gateway to
the capital. Located north of Nian Tan Park on two adjacent plots of land, the Vanke-Shoukai development
will also provide an urban datum that facilitates connections between the city’s major focal points.
Incorporating an office tower, serviced apartments, a mall, a commercial complex and a park, the
development will serve as a new centre for leisure and business. “We aimed to create a variety of
atmospheres and scales, and a range of interior and exterior spaces,” says SPARK Director Jan Felix
Clostermann. He continues, “We hope this hybrid of urban and ‘natural’ spaces will be a successful model for
anchoring a newly developing peripheral area.”
The design for the south plot incorporates a 120m high office tower, a Citadines serviced apartment tower,
and a shopping mall. The design approach is to break away from the conventional podium/tower typology
where the volume is typically introverted. Rather, the podium is pierced and shaped by two main axes that
allow for fluid mobility through it. The effect generated is akin to streets running between city blocks. Clear
distinctions are made between the multiple programme components by cut-outs that reveal negative space
between the building volumes.
The serviced apartment volume has been placed strategically to maximise views toward the north and south
parks. It will primarily act as a destination for business, given the close proximity to the future airport in
the south of Daxing. Attention has been paid to connections with the retail street. The design intention is to
encourage guests to meander and capitalise on the available shopping and dining opportunities during their
stay.
In the mall, large internal terraces act as extensions of the shop fronts. Escalators and walkways connect to
the adjacent terraces and weave the development into the 3D urban pedestrian network. The terraces are
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