河西开放区丨VIKELAS ARCHITECTS

Firm： VIKELAS ARCHITECTS

Type： Commercial › Shopping Mall Hospitality + Sport › Restaurant Landscape + Planning › Public Park Playground Urban Green Space

STATUS： Built

YEAR： 2021

The central idea of the extension is the "crack" formed by the checkered arrangement of the buildings in the new commercial spaces, through which emerges a "river" that separates along the new development's environment in two parts. The large part houses big anchor tenants and shops and the other one forms the main F&B zone of the whole development.

The open area divides the shopping park into individual functional units of shops, hypermarkets, dining and leisure spaces, while at the same time acting as a backbone connecting outdoor activities and incorporating a unique shopping promenade that offers new experiences to the visitor and encourages them to roam and own the space.

The cafes and restaurants have large terraces overlooking the main promenade but also, they are double height solar patios. They operate as collectors of solar radiation in winter, while in the summer period they open and have external shading with roller screens.

Water features and vegetation form the main attraction in the heart of the new development. In the northern part of the plot, an urban park is facing the residential areas separating them from the new commercial development. The park has an outdoor amphitheater in direct synergy with an indoor recreation and sports area and a complex of artificial rocks in a "natural pond", from where the water of the "river" originates.

At the same time, a new ‘’gateway’’ is formed and the connection zone between the existing shopping mall and the new expansion area "RIVER WEST OPEN" was thoroughly redesigned. This is an aesthetic and functional upgrade of the existing corridor that now leads to the outdoor area of the new expansion.

The Transition Zone was sought to be clearly distinct from all areas of the existing shopping mall, but also "fit in" the existing architectural approach. The concept uses a contemporary architectural vocabulary, but at the same time associates it with the identity and geometry of the River West's atrium.