Hasta La Ideas

Dutch firm UNStudio has completed a shopping centre in Wuhan, China, with over 42,000 shiny silver balls attached to its facade (+ slideshow).

UNStudio designed nine variations of the stainless steel spheres to cover the exterior of the Hanjie Wanda Square shopping centre, which are intended to recreate the effect of rippling water or silk. Each one contains a small LED light that further animates the facade after dark.

Three different entrances lead shoppers towards atriums at the north and south ends of the building. The first has an oval-shaped plan, while the second features a perfect circle.

“In Hanjie Wanda Square a circular motif is repeated in many different ways and patterns, both in the facade and throughout the interior,” explained UNStudio principal Ben van Berkel, whose previous projects include an airport in Georgia and a department store in South Korea.

“The patterns used are influenced by numerous cultural references, both traditional and contemporary. Patterns drive our aesthetic choices, whether they be personal or shared, and in Hanjie Wanda Square act as a background to the world of desire encapsulated in the contemporary shopping plaza,” he said.

A monochrome colour scheme is predominant throughout most of the interior and incorporates perforated screens, glazed balustrades and polished floors.

The southern atrium continues this theme, with shades of grey picked up across surfaces, but the larger northern atrium offers a few golden and bronze tones.

Van Berkel said: “Reflection, light and pattern are used throughout the Hanjie Wanda Square to create an almost fantastical world. New microcosms and experiences are created for the shopper, similar perhaps to the world of theatre, whereby the retail complex becomes almost a stage or a place of performance and offers a variety of different impressions and experiences to the visitor.”

There are four main levels to the shopping centre, organised around a looping plan that accommodates shops, restaurants and cinemas.

Large skylights stretch across the roof to allow daylight to enter the building.

Photography is by Edmon Leong.

Here’s a project description from UNStudio:

Ben van Berkel / UNStudio’s Hanjie Wanda Square in Wuhan completed

Hanjie Wanda Square is a new luxury shopping plaza located in the Wuhan Central Culture Centre, one of the most important areas of Wuhan City in China.

Following competitions in 2011 with design entries from national and international architects, UNStudio’s overall design was selected as the winning entry for the facade and interior of the Hanjie Wanda Square. The shopping plaza houses international brand stores, world-class boutiques, catering outlets and cinemas.

In UNStudio’s design the concept of luxury is incorporated through the craftsmanship of noble, yet simple materials and combines both contemporary and traditional design elements in one concept.

Synergy of flows

For the design of the Hanjie Wanda Square attention and visitor flows are guided from the main routes towards the facades and entrances of the building. From the three main entrances visitor flows are thereafter guided to two interior atria.

The concept of ‘synergy of flows’ is key to all of the design components; the fluid articulation of the building envelope, the programming of the dynamic facade lighting and the interior pattern language which guides customers from the central atria to the upper levels and throughout the building via linking corridors.

Facade design

The facade design reflects the handcrafted combination of two materials: polished stainless steel and patterned glass. These two materials are crafted into nine differently trimmed, but standardised spheres. Their specific positions in relation to each other recreate the effect of movement and reflection in water, or the sensuous folds of silk fabric.

The architectural lighting is integrated into the building envelope’s 42,333 spheres. Within each sphere LED-fixtures emit light onto the laminated glass to generate glowing circular spots. Simultaneously a second set of LED’s at the rear side of the spheres create a diffuse illumination on the back panels. Various possibilities to combine and control the lighting allow diverse effects and programming of lighting sequences related to the use and activation of the Hanjie Wanda Square.

Interior concept

The interior concept is developed around the north and south atria, creating two different, yet integrated atmospheres. The atria become the centre of the dynamic duality of the two Hanjie Wanda Square identities: Contemporary and Traditional. Variations in geometry, materials and details define these differing characters.

With two main entrances, the north atrium is recognised as a main venue hall, and the south atrium as a more intimate venue hall. The north atrium is characterised by warm golden and bronze materials reflecting a cultural, traditional identity.

In the south atrium silver and grey nuances with reflective textures reflect the city identity and its urban rhythm. Both atria are crowned by skylights with a funnel structure which connects the roof and the ground floor. The funnel structures are each clad with 2600 glass panels and are digitally printed with an intricate pattern. In addition, each funnel integrally houses a pair of panorama lifts.

Client: Wuhan Wanda East Lake Real State Co. Ltd
Location: ShaHu Ave, Wu Chang Qu, Wuhan, China
Facade: 30.500 sqm
Interior: 22.630 sqm
Programme: Luxury shopping mall
Contribution UNStudio: Facade and interior design
Status: Realised

The post UNStudio’s Chinese shopping centre
is covered in silver balls appeared first on Dezeen.

A gigantic golden chasm welcomes visitors to this shopping centre in Malmö by Swedish architects Wingårdhs (+ slideshow).

Located to the south of the city in Hyllie, the Emporia shopping centre is Wingårdhs‘ first realised building from a competition-winning masterplan of proposed housing and office blocks. Once all the buildings have been completed, the “amber entrance” will be the only section of the shopping centre visible from the surrounding new streets.

“The main idea of our winning competition entry was to hide inward-looking retail behind a wreath of residential and commercial buildings,” said the architects.

The curving golden glass stretches across a gridshell structure, which curves up and back to allow daylight to penetrate the entrance courtyard. From here, shoppers are led towards three storeys of retail arranged around a figure-of-eight plan.

The roof of the structure accommodates a large park with a faceted landscape made up of lawns, terraces and pavilions.

“In the future the roof will be developed with outdoor dining and a spa facility,” added the architects. “Like amusement parks, shopping centres need to offer new attractions at regular intervals.”

Atriums in bold shades of blue, green and red help shoppers to navigate the building, while the adjoining car park can be identified by an assortment of coloured panels.

Wingårdhs is led by architect Gert Wingårdh. Past projects by the studio include a thatched visitor centre at Sweden’s Lake Tåkern and a high-rise hotel in Stockholm. See more architecture by Wingårdhs »

Other shopping centres on Dezeen include a former bullring in Barcelona and a rippled concrete building in Hong Kong. See more shopping centres »

Photography is by Tord-Rikard Söderström, apart from where otherwise indicated.

Here’s a project description from Wingårdhs:

Emporia

Emporia is first and foremost an urban planning project in which offices, housing, and retail come together in a mixed-use development along Boulevarden and Stationsgatan in Hyllie, on the south side of Malmö. The main idea of our winning competition entry was to hide inward-looking retail behind a wreath of residential and commercial buildings. The whole shopping complex would thereby eventually become integrated into the fabric of the city.

It is a huge development, of which only the corner building with the Amber Entrance has yet been completed. This entrance will be the only part of the Emporia shopping centre that remains visible when the development is completely built out. The idea of lining the streets with mixed-use buildings demanded a strong form that could attract visitors from Station Square to come in and shop. A sequence of vaults from a previous competition proposal, along with a memory from the Pantheon, reemerged in a bronze-ochre tone. Double-bent glass encloses the diagonal slit that cuts through the building. Here the weather of the Öresund Strait, its fast-moving clouds chasing glimpses of sun, becomes present and tangible.

The diagonal entrance from Hyllie Station Square leads deep into the block. Inside, retail is organised around a three-storey figure eight. Shops are grouped together around boldly coloured atriums, each with a different theme. On the north side of the complex, a ramp leads into a rainbow-coloured parking garage (for 2500 cars) with direct access to the figure eight. To the east is a surface parking lot (for 500) right outside the supermarket.

The rooftop park is designed as a bit of cultivated nature. Its vegetation (sedum, prairie grass, and trees) and its sun-facing, wind-sheltered patios are accessible from both inside and outside the building. The hills that provide protection from the wind are actually hiding mechanical rooms. In the future the roof will be developed with outdoor dining and a spa facility—like amusement parks, shopping centres need to offer new attractions at regular intervals.

Emporia can expand upward and to the west, but not in any of the other directions. The freestanding residential buildings facing Boulevarden have yet to be built, as do those that will stand atop the podium along Stationsgatan on the south side.

Emporia’s interior challenges established shopping centre conventions. Its bold colours and bent sight lines break with the norm, as do the project’s size and ambition—which have made it possible to do custom designs for everything from ceilings, floors, and storefronts to signage, ropes of hanging plants, furniture, and cast glass door handles.

Our motto has been “no intermediate scale” — because that is the realm of the products on display. Large-scale patterns and intricate details characterise the interior. The terrazzo floor is typical of this approach, with its oversized triangular joint pattern, its gradual shift from white to graphite in seven steps, and its flashing inclusions of coloured mirror glass. The design has been wrought with extraordinary attention to detail, down to the leather-wrapped handrails and the colour of the stitching on the built-in seating.

Emporia also includes a quantity of art seldom seen in a commercial environment. A lighting installation (ninety-nine bollards) by Petteri Nisunen and Tommi Grönlund lifts the Amber Entrance, bronze sculptures by Joep van Lieshout and a glass art piece (4 x 81 m) by Silja Rantanen adorn the Sea Entrance, and a line painting on film at an extremely outsized format (20 x 114 m) by Per Mårtensson clads the façade of the parking garage. On the interior is a series of photos by Signe Maria Andersen.

Architect: Wingårdhs through, Gert Wingårdh, Johan Eklind and Joakim Lyth
Interior architect: Wingårdhs through, Helena Toresson
Graphic design: Wingårdhs through, Jennie Stolpe
Landscape design: Thyréns AB (Anders Dahl, Pamela Sjöstrand)
Landscape design (roof park): Wingårdhs, Landskapsgruppen Öresund AB
Client: Steen & Ström Sverige AB

The post Emporia shopping centre in Malmö
by Wingårdhs appeared first on Dezeen.

French architects Agence Search have won a competition to design a Paris shopping mall with proposals involving giant elliptical lattices.

The five-storey-high, egg-shaped structures will define two atriums located at opposite ends of the shopping centre.

Escalators and footbridges will pierce holes through the suspended structures.

The architects drew inspiration for the project from the conceptual cenotaph that architect Étienne-Louis Boullée designed for scientist Isaac Newton over 200 years ago.

Another shopping centre we’ve featured in recent months features a rippled stone facade – see it here.

Here’s some more text from Agence Search:

Agence Search Win the restricted competition for the interior design of the future New Beaugrenelle Shopping Mall

In today’s increasingly competitive environment, the architecture of shopping malls has come to play a fundamental role in their commercial success. Architecture can distinguish the shopping environment to create a sense of specificity, of differentiation. Space can become a brand. The New Beaugrenelle Shopping Mall program set the stakes to develop an existing space by transforming two atriums into a site with “Wow Effect.”

Atrium entrance sequence

The entrance sequence is spectacular. The visitor is taken in by the volume, by a spatial configuration that is at once singular and majestic. The lattice work structure that inhabits the central volume is visible from the building’s façade. It attracts the shopper, and once inside draws his or her eyes up to the light and shops above, and down to the event space below. The visitor’s first perception goes beyond the scale of the building, to encompass its referential universe, its status, and its identity.

Lattice

The lattice work structure materializes an envelope that defines the central space, and transforms it into an inhabited volume. It enables the interior design to refrain from modifying the existing architecture, while all the while entering into a dialogue with it on a large scale. The wooden lattice invokes warmth, sobriety and elegance.

E-commerce

The interiors project for the New Beaugrenelle Shopping Mall takes into account the transformations affecting our contemporary shopping experience. Facing the development of e-commerce, the shopping mall must affirm its singularity and specificity to maintain and improve its dynamic status. According to the “fun shopping” movement, we know that stores today must seduce buyers by transforming their commercial space into zones of conviviality and entertainment. The addition of footbridges that pierce the lattice structure and span the atrium creates novel spaces where multimedia and other recreational programs can develop.

« Wow Effect »

The two atriums of the Beaugrennelle shopping mall create a “Wow Effect.” In keeping with the client’s desires, they constitute an extraordinary spatial experience. Surprised and seduced by these singular architectural objects, the visitor is transported, becoming one with the volume.

Foster + Partners have completed a new shopping centre that combines high-end boutiques with independent local food and craft markets on the site of a historic city marketplace in Abu Dhabi.

The new Souk Market has been designed as a sequence of courtyards and alleys, integrating balconies and colonnades.

Sliding roofs and walls enable controlled ventilation of the market and patterned stained glass windows mark the entrances.

Photography is by Nigel Young, Foster + Partners, apart from where stated.

More architecture by Foster + Partners on Dezeen »
More projects in Abu Dhabi »

Photograph above is by Irfan Naqi

These details are from Foster + Partners:

Aldar Central Market, Abu Dhabi

Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, 2006-2011

Abu Dhabi’s historic Central Market is to be transformed into a dynamic new quarter with markets, shops, offices, apartments and hotels. One of the oldest sites in the city, Central Market will be a reinterpretation of the traditional market place and a new civic heart for Abu Dhabi. The project comprises a combination of lower-rise, ecologically sensitive levels of retail, roof gardens – forming a new public park – and three towers, with generous underground parking. Pushed to the corners of the site to maximise the ground plane, the cluster of towers creates a striking new urban landmark.

Like a modern version of the souk, the new Central Market will be a city in microcosm. It will unite high end retail and luxury goods shops with individual courtyards and alleys, together with food markets and craft-based trades specific to the region. Avoiding the generic feel of the universal shopping mall, the scheme will fuse the local vernacular with global aspirations.

While the towers relate to distance and skyline, the souk and the lower levels are scaled to the pedestrian. An intimate sequence of streets, alleys, courtyards, balconies and colonnades dissolve barriers between inside and outside, with flexible sliding roofs and walls to enable control of internal environments, and to maximise potential for natural ventilation. Like a patchwork quilt of gridded modules of varying height, the scheme is a highly articulated composition that bridges and unifies two city blocks

Client: Aldar Properties
Consultants: Halvorson and Partners, EC Harris International, BDSP Partnership, Emmer Pfenninger and Partners, Lerch Bates and Associates, Systematica, Warrington Fire

See also:

.

Barceló Temporary Market by Nieto Sobejano	Masdar Institute campus by Foster + Partners	Masdar City Centre by LAVA