Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates (KPF) has officially broken ground on West Lake 66 in Hangzhou, China. The project will form a new elevated green pedestrian link between West Lake and the Grand Canal, two of Hangzhou’s essential landmarks.
The 194,000-sm project includes five office towers with space suited to technology startups and young professionals, a boutique hotel, public parks, and an active, mixed-use podium. KPF parametrically linked shadow impacts, visibility from streets, unobstructed views, maximized daylight, and other key factors in an algorithm that organized optimal massing along the greenway to determine the position of the buildings and the overall site organization.
Plomp for KPF.
See Also: A series of glass ‘igloos’ create the world’s northernmost hotel
The buildings’ facades optimize daylight while the overall project was designed with a modular, fluid porosity that reflects the material heritage of the city and its craftspeople using local materials like terracotta, stone, and wood.
Plomp for KPF.
The podium is designed in sinuous bands of rectangular cells, each one responding to the program within, that tie the site together. The cells can be updated over the lifespan of the building. The podium also stacks a mix of uses to form a layered program that ensures future flexibility. Office space opens to a green roof that spans the length of the podium to create a public sky park.
Plomp for KPF.
Plomp for KPF.
Plomp for KPF.
Jim Keen for KPF.
Related Stories
Mixed-Use | Jun 14, 2021
SB Architects and LandDesign unveil design for Rivana at Innovation Station
The development is located 25 miles west of downtown Washington, D.C.
Mixed-Use | Jun 10, 2021
Safdie Architects unveils design for ORCA Toronto
The project comprises nine towers in total.
Mixed-Use | Jun 7, 2021
Henning Larsen designs an active community hub for London
The project will be the firm’s first in London.
Mixed-Use | Jun 2, 2021
World’s tallest detached-core building completes in Shenzhen
Morphosis designed the project.
Mixed-Use | May 24, 2021
33-story glass mixed-use tower to rise in downtown Orlando
DLR Group is designing the project.
Mixed-Use | May 24, 2021
Olson Kundig unveils new mixed-use high-rise in Atlanta
The project is currently under construction along Atlanta’s BeltLine.
Mixed-Use | May 19, 2021
Salt Lake City mixed-use residential community will feature micro units
KTGY is designing the project.
Multifamily Housing | May 12, 2021
Affordable mixed-use housing complex completes in South Los Angeles
KFA designed the project.
Mixed-Use | May 7, 2021
Mixed-use development tops out in Brooklyn’s Brownsville neighborhood
The project will bring 160 affordable housing units to the area.
Mixed-Use | May 4, 2021
Renderings of Williamsburg’s largest new residential development revealed
Woods Bagot designed the project.
