MVRDV Wins Competition to Design the Mixed-Use Shimao ShenKong International Center in Shenzhen, China
Written by Christele Harrouk
MVRDV’ s entry, Shenzhen Terraces, has been selected from 27 projects as the winner in a competition to design a 101,300-square-metre mixed-use Shimao ShenKong International Center. The multi-level urban living room is located in Universiade New Town, Longgang District, Shenzhen, China.
Designed by MVRDV for Shimao Group in partnership with landscape designers Openfabric, Shenzhen Terraces will act as “a new three-dimensional urban living room with more than 20 programs, including a small gallery, library, and outdoor theatre”. Conceived around the notion of sustainability, the project, situated on a defining public space, will be an integrated part of the university neighborhood, bringing innovation and liveliness to the area.
Shenzhen has developed so quickly since its origins in the 1970s. In cities like this, it is essential to carefully consider how public spaces and natural landscapes can be integrated into the densifying cityscape. The urban living room of the Shimao ShenKong International Centre will be a wonderful example of this and could become a model for the creation of key public spaces in New Town developments throughout Shenzhen. It aims to make an area that you want to be outside, hang out and meet, even when it is hot – a literally cool space for the university district, where all communication space can be outside. It will truly be a public building. — Winy Maas, MVRDV founding partner.
Contrasting with the high-rise surroundings, the project consists of horizontal lines and slow curving shapes. Stacked plateaus help merge the existing landscape with the new development. A sustainable hub for the surrounding area, the project includes pedestrian-friendly landscape with a mixture of functions and public transport. “The largest building, containing among other things a bus terminal, conference center, and entrepreneurship center on the east of the site, is carved out in its center to form an open-air atrium”. In order to knit Shenzhen’s newest urban living room into its context, the second floor holds bridging elements that form a continuous route and connect the development with the surroundings.
With sustainability at the core of the design concept, the architects used a recycled concrete, added photovoltaic panels on the rooftops, and an abundance of green and water features to “reduce the local temperature and provide habitat for urban wildlife, while gardens and rainwater collection generate food and water resources”. Adapted for different functions, the large shaded terraces create a shield from the sun and green climate buffer zones. Their irregular form can generate connections between the various floors doubling as small outdoor auditoriums in some places, while in others, it can create entrances and recognizable places.
Project Name: Shenzhen Terraces
Location: Shenzhen, China
Year: 2019
Client: Shenzhen Shimao Xin Li Cheng Industry Co., Ltd.
Size and Program: 95,000 m2 mixed-use
Architect: MVRDV
Founding Partner in charge: Winy Maas
Director: Gideon Maasland
Associate Design Director: Gijs Rikken Design Team: Sanne van Manen, Irgen Salianji, Shengjie Zhan, Luca Beltrame, Katarzyna Maria Ephraim, Cas Esbach, Hengwei Ji, DongMin Lee, Yannick Macken, Giuseppe Mazzaglia, Siyi Pan, Sen Yang, Jiani You, Daan Zandbergen
Landscape architect: Openfabric Cost Calculation: Shanghai Xinyuan Construction Engineering Consulting Co., Ltd
Available in: www.archdaily.com/936115. Accessed in: 04/07/2020.
