300,000 SQM, PROPOSED 2011
SKY + GROUND SCAPER_ Vanke's program called for the masterplan and design of a retail podium, residential towers, a hotel and an office tower. We started the design competition by questioning the convention of stacking vertical towers on top of a disassociated horizontal podium—resulting in 2 disassociated entities. Instead, MOD's response was to conceptualise a method to bridge these 2 entities through a singular sculpture formed by continuous horizontal and vertical elements.
Due to the somewhat milder weather in this part of China, we could conceive spaces and circulation that would be alfresco or partially covered - negating the restrictive spatial demands of a completely enclosed mall space. Instead, visitors navigate the mall through plaza and garden spaces of varying scales that respond to either the busier urban street frontage in the north or quieter residential development in the south.
Sky plazas in the office tower and a signature hotel sky lobby on the top floor allow for an unparalleled panorama of the surrounding seafront and city. The facade treatment subtly transforms along the vertical length of the building to create indentations that are human-scaled to the residential development in the upper levels.
