LuLa Light Mall in China resembles loose stack of boxes with openings in between

MVRDV’s design for LuLa Light Mall, a largely open-air shopping center under construction in the developing Luxelakes Eco-City district of Chengdu, China, will be formed by a stack of boxes with generous openings in between providing views of a neighboring lake. The design offers large terraces, walkways, and staircases for visitors to enjoy the outdoors. 

MVRDV set out to create a porous project in which views towards nature are ever-present, with inspiration coming from the many pavilions of Chengdu’s parks. The project consists of two main elements, with a 99-meter-tall, 19-story tower on the western end of the plot, and a four-story plinth occupying the rest of the site. Rather than a typical mall typology, in which a shell of commercial spaces encloses an atrium, the plinth section breaks apart these commercial units into smaller boxes and stacks them to allow light, air, views, and people in the gaps in between. On the eastern end of the site, a series of large boxes are stacked and rotated in various directions to take full advantage of the views of the lake.

All the stacked boxes create multiple large outdoor spaces connected by walkways and stairs, which also lead down to the water’s edge. Each box features colorful façades that are clearly expressed by a thick frame along its edges. Inside, glass walls with colorful mullions reference colors in the existing pavilions in Chengdu’s parks.

An additional benefit of the stacked-box approach is to reduce the cooling requirements of the project, lowering the amount of energy required for operation. Part of that energy will be supplied by rooftop solar panels.

By contrast to the plinth, the tower is more in keeping with the neighboring towers of the city, with a more monochrome color palette. The different floors continually shift in size and placement such that the west façade of the building forms a single vertical wall, while the other three facades feature terraces and overhangs. The largest deviations are found on the lower levels, so that the tower blends with the more loosely arranged boxes of the plinth where they meet. 

The various approaches to stacking and combining spaces in LuLa Light Mall result in a great deal of versatility. Commercial spaces come in a wide variety of sizes; some are accessed by walkways, while others are reachable by elevator; some sit near the lake’s edge, while others feature wide open terraces with panoramic views. As a result, these spaces can accommodate a huge variety of different commercial activities: shops, restaurants, cafés, bars, spas, salons, and gyms.

Design architect: MVRDV, Zhoyu Design group Co.,Ltd.
MEP engineer: Zhoyu Design group Co.,Ltd.
Structural engineer: N/A
General contractor/construction manager: N/A
Landscape architect: UrbanX