2015 | Competition

Client | Shanghai Workers’ Association

81000 sqm | Planning, Asset Enhancement, Education & culture

Huxi Cultural Hub is a mixed used development of 200,000sqm of offices, SOHO, sports, cultural and entertainment facilities that combine to provide a destination for the local and wider community. Well connected to public infrastructure via the subway, light rail and bus terminal the Huxi cultural district is organised around a public garden and lake. Spark’s proposition aims to revisit the heritage of old Shanghai in 1873 a walled city providing an element of surprise to the visitor as they cross the threshold into ‘secret’ garden. The required programme and functional buildings form a protective edge around the lake and landscape where historical sculptures have been conserved. The Workers’ Museum and ice skating rink are located underground and accessed via the lake, creating a varied spatial experience. The three dimensional layered relationship between the pedestrian and the varied scales of building are further animated by restaurant terraces with framed views over the development.