Haicang Vanke City（海沧万科城）

Haicang Vanke City

Haicang Vanke City

The Haicang Vanke City is a small mixed-use project consisting of SOHO units for sale, for lease, and retail spaces for sale. It is a very special project in the sense that the client has a very limited budget (construction cost of about 3,000 RMB per square meter), tight schedule, precisely calculated program area distribution, yet an ambition for the role of the new development in energizing local real estate market, to be realized mainly through the attractive image of the buildings. To achieve the client’s goals, we have derived a strategy that minimizes variation among different units, arranges the retail space in classic “shopping-mall” configuration, yet creates a dramatic image by zigzagging stairs overhanging into the air and a folding language spoken both by the buildings and by the negative space. The design provides 18,000 square meters of retail space on the ground and second floors, and 20,000 square meters of SOHO units above the retails. I worked on the conceptual and early SD phases of the project as the design team captain.