New Zealand Commercial Design Trends Series NZ Commercial Design Trends Vol. 35/02C | Page 89

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– this new-addition atrium is
designed to whisk local residents
by elevator straight up to the
fifth and sixth floor eateries,
bypassing the mall’s opulent
shopping options. Finished with
vertical wooden boards and LED
columns, the atrium lends light,
openness, and drama to the
reinvented space.
the architecture to its environs, the intervention
repositions the mall’s focal point to its upper levels.
Where previously access to the mall’s core was
exclusively via its ground floor flagship stores,
Kokaistudios’ solution transports visitors directly
to its re-centred and newly opened-up third-floor
foyer, bringing both energy and movement to the
facility’s formerly under-visited upper levels.
Positioning the mall as a lifestyle destination that
extends beyond retail was also key to attracting a
second target demographic: Shanghai residents
– imagined here as ‘audience’. As part of this, the
renovated mall now features several high-end
restaurants and bars on its fifth and sixth floors.
“With these destinations in mind, we created a
new street-level entrance that opens onto an
attractive atrium,” Destefanis says. “Flanked with
vertical wooden boards, seemingly extending the
entirety of the mall’s height, and interspersed with
LED columns, it lends light, openness, and drama
to what was previously an under-optimised space.”
From here, banks of elevators take diners directly to
the F&B outlets, without need to navigate escalators.
Another entrance on East Nanjing Road caters
to a third demographic, defined by Kokaistudios
as actors and imagined as those working in nearby
offices. In order to facilitate frequent, more con-
venient use of Shimao Festival City, an escalator
conveys this group direct to the heart of the mall.
“Envisaged almost as a ‘backstage’ space, this
second plaza sets an industrial tone through grey
louvre walls, polished black glass.
“These elements combine to reinforce the
space’s efficiency and purpose, and contrast with
the mall’s more tourist-oriented outer areas.”
Kokaistudios’ project demonstrates how archi-
tectural renovation can serve cities by retrofitting
outdated shopping malls with the lifestyle elements
of now, and flexibility for the future. In this way,
these large-scale structures can be absorbed back
into the useful fabric of urban centres.
With Shimao Festival City, this translates to
opening-up a formerly overlooked space in the heart
of Shanghai for the benefit and enjoyment of all.
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