Exchange in all senses of the word embodied in an urban scheme
Qianhai Exchange Plaza
Location: Shenzhen, China
Client: Qianhai Area Development Bureau
Program: 680.000 m² Program: office, residential, retail, hotel, conference center, cinema, community functions, supporting uses
Qianhai Exchange Plaza will be a place for economic exchange. But it has the potential for much more. It can become the place for exchange on many different levels – a place of a holistic identity of what Exchange means in the 21st century.
Social Exchange: Economic exchange is based on people interacting. This needs places where people can meet in a formal or informal way – places where social exchange in the context of business and outside it can take place.
Cultural exchange: Qianhai and the exchange plaza are the heart of a new place that is supposed to foster exchange between Shenzhen and Hong Kong and between China and the world. Where people from everywhere meet it would be a missed opportunity not to use that place to enrich the cultural exchange.
Exchange of goods: Attractive places attract people and people attract more people. This creates the perfect condition for retail therefore making exchange plaza a major retail hub.
Transport exchange: The site is bordered by three metro stations and offers a bus terminal and ample parking space. Linking these facilities makes it a transport exchange.
Spatial Exchange: The place is a contrast to the surrounding environment. Bordered by relatively low towers with a park in the middle it is a counterpoint to the landmark towers around it. This creates tension and leads to a natural relationship between the void and the building mass.
Exchange Plaza combines all these exchanges in one coherent project. Built around a public space, buildings form the background for intense urban life to unfold. The base of the buildings becomes an integrated part of both, the indoor environment of the office, apartment or shop and the public landscape of the plaza. The buildings create the condition for a tropical lifestyle to emerge and unfold, a lifestyle where indoor and outdoor can be used seamlessly all year round.
Stages:
2015 Concept
Awards:
Design competition, 2. Prize
Team:
MLA+: Markus Appenzeller, Pinar Bozoglan, Athena Papadodoulou, Anna Skachokova , Wing Yung, Milena Zaklanovic, Petar Zaklanovic
Arup, Urban Agency, Basic City
