After Zaha’s “vagina” stadium, here are six more examples of yonic architecture

Following the row over whether Zaha Hadid’s World Cup stadium looks like a vagina, here’s a roundup of yonic architecture from the Dezeen archives. As one commenter wrote: “There are enough phallic buildings in the world; maybe it’s time for some vaginal ones”.

Zaha Hadid's yonic stadium for Qatar 2022 FIFA World Cup

Last week Hadid described claims that Qatar 2022 FIFA World Cup stadium resembles a vagina as “embarrassing” and “ridiculous” but many Dezeen readers feel the similarity is a positive thing, given how many buildings resemble phallic symbols of power.

“What’s so wrong with things looking like vaginas?” asked one reader, while another said the stadium could serve as “a subtle contribution to the women’s rights movement in Qatar.”

Red Town Office by Taranta Creations
Red Town Office by Taranta Creations

“Yonic” refers to forms that resemble the vagina or the vulva, and Dezeen writers and readers have been spotting them in projects such as the Shanghai office of Chinese architecture studio Taranta Creations, which features a staircase enclosed within a vagina-like orifice. “People entering the stairs are like sperms,” remarks one commenter.

Monte St Angelo Subway Station by Amanda Levete Architects and Anish Kapoor
Monte St Angelo Subway Station by Amanda Levete Architects and Anish Kapoor

This subway station entrance for Naples, Italy, designed by architect Amanda Levete and artist Anish Kapoor, is similarly suggestive. “Most of the phallic buildings I have seen in my life have been in Italy,” says one of the less explicit comments. “So of all places I cannot think where a design like this it would be better suited.”

Leviathan by Anish Kapoor
Leviathan by Anish Kapoor

Artist Anish Kapoor has a penchant for yonic forms. His Leviathan project involved creating a series of womb-like orbs in the Grand Palais, Paris. However one commenter felt this one looks more like a “whale’s stomach”.

Domino Sugar by SHoP Architects and James Corner Field Operations
Domino Sugar New York by SHoP Architects and James Corner Field Operations

Architectural structures have long been compared to the male organ but the debate about Zaha’s stadium has thrown up a number of buildings that are more female in form.

“For those of you who call most architecture phallic, here are your vagina buildings,” writes one reader in response to these skyscrapers with orifices proposed by SHoP Architects and James Corner Field Operations for Brooklyn.

“Yonic buildings also do a great job of not blocking views to Manhattan,” adds another reader.

Sheraton Huzhou Hot Spring Resort by MAD
Sheraton Huzhou Hot Spring Resort by MAD

MAD’s Sheraton Huzhou Hot Spring Resort in China could be the most yonic tall building we’ve published – although it could also represent a horseshoe, a figure 8, a donut and a specific type of sex toy, according to readers.

Spaceport America by Foster + Partners
Spaceport America by Foster + Partners

Finally there’s Spaceport America by Foster + Partners, which prompted one reader to tentatively point out: “Gee, from above it looks like, ummm, well… female private parts.”

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New Pinterest board: architecture by OMA

Pinterest board OMA

Following the completion of Dutch studio OMA’s De Rotterdam building and our exclusive interviews with Rem Koolhaas, here is a selection of OMA projects that we have featured on Dezeen including a glazed cube for a Tokyo store, a proposed bridge with a pedestrian boulevard in France and the CCTV building in ChinaSee our new OMA Pinterest board »

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Lucid Stead Transparent Cabin

L’artiste Phillip K Smith III a récemment dévoilé sa dernière installation à Joshua Tree en Californie. Il a repris une cabane abandonnée dans un lieu désertique pour une installer des mirroirs et des LEDs, donnant ainsi une impression de transparence très réussie. Cette création appelée Lucid Stead s’illustre en images dans la suite de l’article.

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Theis and Khan to design new RIBA headquarters

News: British architects Theis and Khan have been selected to design the new headquarters for the Royal Institute of British Architects at 76 Portland Place in London.

Located a couple of doors down from the RIBA‘s existing base at 66 Portland Place, the current Institute of Physics building will be completely renovated to create enough office space to bring all the architecture institute’s London staff under one roof.

Construction is scheduled to begin in March 2014 and expected to complete by the end of the year, freeing up space in the existing premises for new exhibition and events spaces that will include a gallery of architecture designed by London studio Carmody Groarke.

Patrick Theis and Soraya Khan saw off competition from five other shortlisted firms to win the project.

“We look forward to delivering a high quality sustainable design that both meets the RIBA’s aspirations for its new building and reflects the integrity of 66 Portland Place,” they said. “We were intrigued by the potential synergies between the two buildings and look forward to developing these further with the RIBA.”

The architects were selected following a panel interview with a group of RIBA members and will deliver the project alongside engineers Max Fordham and Price & Myers.

“The selection panel was greatly impressed by all the shortlisted teams’ initial thoughts, approach to the project and their experience and ability to deliver within a constrained timeframe,” said RIBA president Stephen Hodder.

“Theis and Khan gave an exceptionally considered approach and clearly demonstrated how they aim to meet our aspirations. We were particularly inspired by the team’s consideration of the relationship between our new premises and our main RIBA headquarters building, and how they had successfully delivered projects with such synergies in the past,” he added.

The RIBA has taken a 43-year lease on 76 Portland Place.

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House in Ōiso with walls covered in roofing material by atelier HAKO architects

The entire facade of this house in the Japanese town of Ōiso by atelier HAKO architects is clad in fibre-reinforced cement boards and punctuated by a series of scattered windows (+ slideshow).

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Photo by atelier HAKO architects

The grey boards are typically used as a standard roofing material in Japanese housing developments but were also applied by atelier HAKO architects to cover the exterior walls.

House in Oiso by atelier HAKO architects

Designed for a family with two children on a site near the Sagami Bay coastline of the Pacific Ocean, the cement boards also perform a practical role as they are resistant to corrosion from the salty air.

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An offset gable gives the roofline an asymmetrical appearance, which helps the building stand out among its more conventional neighbours.

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“The house was placed on the north side of the site in order to protect the garden from seasonal wind from [the] north in winter,” said the architects, who incorporated small windows on the north facade and positioned larger windows on the south side of the building facing the garden.

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The southern facade also incorporates large sliding windows that open onto a deck reminiscent of an “engawa”, a strip of wooden flooring found between the living space and external storm shutters of traditional Japanese houses.

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“[The] internal area was designed with an emphasis on continuity with the garden,” explained the architects, who created an open plan living and dining area on the ground floor next to a kitchen with an aperture in the wall linking the two spaces.

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A spiral staircase with a bottom tread that appears to hover above the ground connects the living room with a hallway on the upper floor where the bedrooms, bathroom and children’s play area are also located.

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Photography is by Shinsuke Kera / Urban Arts, unless stated otherwise.

Here are some details about the project:


The site is located at the edge of dwelling area close to the sea that is facing the agricultural land spread to the north-east mountain side.

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The house was placed on the north side of the site in order to protect the garden from seasonal wind from north in winter.

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Internal area was designed with an emphasis on continuity with the garden. In the south elevation, wide window and shallow depth wood deck which is like japanese traditional ‘engawa’ were provided as connect elements of the internal area and the garden, whereas other elevation was designed defensive to outside.

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Triangular roof was slightly rotated with respect to the axis of the outer wall, the elevations got asymmetric shapes that offer humorous feeling at glance.

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Fiber-reinforced cement board to be used usually as roofing material of mass production house in Japan was used as the exterior wall finishing material resistant to salt damage, thus overall architecture got abstract appearance covered with the same material all.

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Name: House in Ōiso
Architect: Yukinobu Nanashima + Tomomi Sano / atelier HAKO architects
Structural engineer: Shin’itsu Hiraoka / Hiraoka Structural Engineers
Completion: March 2010
Location: Ōiso, Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan
Primary usage: private residence
Structure: wooden construction, two stories above ground
Site area: 155.31 m2
Building area: 44.86 m2
Total floor space: 89.72 m2

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Martin Luther “death house” museum by Von M built at wrong address

The new Museum Luthers Sterbehaus by Stuttgart architects Von M is a grey-brick extension to the house where Martin Luther died – but it turns out the Christian reformer “actually died in another building around the corner” (+ slideshow + photos by Zooey Braun).

Museum Luthers Sterbehaus by Von M

The “death house” museum extends a late-Gothic house in the UNESCO World Heritage Site of the town of Eisleben, Germany, that centres around the life of Luther, a key protagonist in the reform of Christianity in the sixteenth century.

Museum Luthers Sterbehaus by Von M

Until recently the house was believed to be the place of Luther’s death, so Von M was commissioned to restore the house to its sixteenth-century appearance as part of a larger project to convert the site into a museum dedicated to the life of the man and the history of the reformation.

Museum Luthers Sterbehaus by Von M

“Today we know it isn’t the building where Martin Luther died; it was a mistake and he actually died in another building around the corner that doesn’t exist any more,” Von M’s Dennis Mueller told Dezeen.

Museum Luthers Sterbehaus by Von M

“As it was the building for thinking of Martin Luther, it is still seen as the Luther Sterbehaus [Luther’s Death House],” he added. “We still see the old building as not only a space for exhibitions, but as one of the most important parts of the exhibition. It’s an exhibit itself.”

Museum Luthers Sterbehaus by Von M

The two-storey extension is located behind the old house and is constructed from pale grey bricks that were cut using jets of water to create an uneven texture.

Museum Luthers Sterbehaus by Von M

“The colour of the bricks was especially chosen for the project so that the facade chimes together with the materials of the old building,” said Mueller.

Museum Luthers Sterbehaus by Von M

The main entrance can be found at the rear of the site, leading visitors through to exhibition galleries and events rooms with exposed concrete walls and ceilings.

Museum Luthers Sterbehaus by Von M

A ramped corridor slopes down to meet the slightly lower level of the old house, which has been completely restored.

Museum Luthers Sterbehaus by Von M

Photography is by Zooey Braun.

Museum Luthers Sterbehaus
The museum adds a rear extension to the historic building thought to have been Martin Luther’s “death house” – photograph by Dennis Mueller

Here’s some extra information from Von M:


Museum Luthers Sterbehaus

The building which is one of the UNESCO’s World Heritage Sites was extensively renovated and extended by a new building into a museum complex showing a permanent exhibition as well as exhibitions presenting diverse and specific aspects and topics.

Museum Luthers Sterbehaus by Von M

The basic principle for the restoration of the building were the historically documented reconstructions by Friedrich August Ritter in 1868 and Friedrich Wanderer in 1894.

Museum Luthers Sterbehaus by Von M

The relocation of the main entrance and all other important functional rooms into the new building made it possible to largely preserve the existing basic structure of the old building.

Museum Luthers Sterbehaus by Von M

Because of its clear cubature and structure, the new building that is connected to the existing one expresses itself in a self-conscious and contemporary speech, still it subordinates itself under the existing and its environment conditioned by the materiality of its facade as well as the differentiation of the single parts of the building in dimension and height.

Museum Luthers Sterbehaus by Von M

Because of the mutual integration of the new and the existing building a significant and impressing round tour through the museum rooms has been developed – a tour that confronts the visitor with a diversity of aspects and themes of the permanent exhibition “Luthers letzter Weg”.

Museum Luthers Sterbehaus by Von M
Site plan – click for larger image
Museum Luthers Sterbehaus by Von M
Plan
Museum Luthers Sterbehaus by Von M
Long section – click for larger image
Museum Luthers Sterbehaus by Von M
Cross section – click for larger image

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Shenzhen International Airport

Le studio Fuksas avait remporté en 2008 la compétition concernant la réalisation d’un nouveau terminal 3 de l’Aéroport international de Shenzhen Bao’an. C’est aujourd’hui que ce nouvel espace aux lignes surprenantes et futuristes sera ouvert au public. Un projet visuellement impressionnant à découvrir dans la suite.

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OMA now preoccupied with “the countryside and preservation” says Rem Koolhaas

Movie: Rem Koolhaas explains how his preoccupations have shifted from urbanism and the city to preservation and the countryside in this second movie filmed by Dezeen at the launch of OMA’s new Rotterdam skyscraper. “It’s a cliche that everybody is living in the city,” the architect says.

The OMA founder believes that rapid urbanisation coupled with the increasing difficulty of building in heritage areas is creating a dichotomy for architects.

“We discovered that, unbeknown to us, a large part of the world’s service is under a particular regime of preservation and therefore cannot be changed,” he says. “That made us suddenly aware that the world is now divided into areas that change extremely quickly and areas that cannot change.”

With most architects increasingly concerned with urbanisation, Koolhaas explains why he sees the countryside as an opportunity for OMA.”It’s a cliche that everybody is living in the city,” he says. “Currently we are thinking about the countryside and what one could do in the countryside, and perhaps a new thinking about the countryside.”

Besides his architectural work with OMA, Koolhaas also heads a sister organisation called AMO, which conducts research and gathers intelligence that feeds into both his and his clients’ projects.

“We work as architects but also constantly try to explore where brand new issues arise or where new contradictions emerge, or where a particular way of thinking about a subject is no longer really kind of vital and needs revision,” he explains.

Koolhaas explored some of these ideas at the OMA/Progress exhibition, which took place at the Barbican Art Gallery in 2011. One wall of the exhibition featured a series of images depicting countryside scenes in various European countries, while a previously sealed entrance was opened up for the first time in the gallery’s history to highlight OMA’s interest in preservation.

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Social housing with solid stone walls by Perraudin Architecture

French studio Perraudin Architecture has completed a social housing complex with solid stone walls near Toulouse as part of a bid to prove that “anything that is built today could be built in stone” (+ slideshow).

Social housing with solid stone walls by Perraudin Architecture

Perraudin Architecture, which also recently completed a stone house in Lyon, specified huge 40 centimetre-wide blocks of limestone for the walls of the three-storey building located within a new residential district of Cornebarrieu, north-west of Toulouse.

Social housing with solid stone walls by Perraudin Architecture

“Stone is the most abundantly available material on earth,” said architect Marco Lammers. “It is an extremely energy-efficient resource […] and, when used with intelligence, it can be cheaper than concrete.”

Social housing with solid stone walls by Perraudin Architecture

The studio treated this project as a case study to test whether stone can be used for buildings that need to adhere to both a tight budget and strict energy-saving requirements, and managed to deliver on both counts.

Social housing with solid stone walls by Perraudin Architecture

According to the architect, the load-bearing stone walls will provide a natural air conditioning system that absorbs excess heat and releases it gradually.

Social housing with solid stone walls by Perraudin Architecture

“The result is a truly contemporary stone architecture, rooted in the economy of simplicity and the pure tectonic art and pleasure of building,” said Lammers.

Social housing with solid stone walls by Perraudin Architecture

No paint or plaster was added to the walls, so the stone surfaces are left bare to display traces of the quarrying process. Projecting courses of stone on the exterior mark the boundaries between floors and help to direct rainwater away from the windows.

Social housing with solid stone walls by Perraudin Architecture

A total of 2o apartments are contained within the building. Bedrooms are positioned along the northern facade, allowing living rooms to be south-facing and open out to sunny terraces.

Social housing with solid stone walls by Perraudin Architecture

Larch was used for doors, window frames and shutters throughout the complex, and are expected to show signs of ageing over time.

Social housing with solid stone walls by Perraudin Architecture

Perraudin Architecture is now working on the next phase of the project, which will involve the construction of a larger housing complex using the same materials palette.

Social housing with solid stone walls by Perraudin Architecture

Photography is by Damien Aspe and Serge Demailly.

Here’s more information from Perraudin Architecture:


Massive Stone Social Housing, Cornebarrieu, France

Since its rediscovery of stone Perraudin Architecture has come to believe that anything that is built today could be built in stone.

Social housing with solid stone walls by Perraudin Architecture

After realising several massive stone buildings – including wineries, single housing and a school campus – the opportunity to build 20 social housing units in Cornebarrieu provided an excellent test case. Is it possible, to truly build in stone within the strictest of economical and energetic restrictions? With a brief featuring both a very limited budget of 1150 euro/m² and the strict demand to be granted the label ‘Very High Energetic Performance’ within the French standard of High Environmental Quality?

Social housing with solid stone walls by Perraudin Architecture

The result is a truly contemporary stone architecture, rooted in the economy of simplicity and the pure tectonic art and pleasure of building. An architecture made to age and made to last, searching to exploit to its maximum the great visual, environmental and structural qualities of its used materials.

Social housing with solid stone walls by Perraudin Architecture

The building is entirely built up in load-bearing limestone walls of 40 cm. Precise coursing elevations define each stone, to be extracted, dimensioned and numbered in the quarry and then transported to the site. There, they are assembled like toy blocks using nothing but a thin bed of lime mortar.

Social housing with solid stone walls by Perraudin Architecture

Each detail is a true stone detail. Large openings are formed by flat arcs with keys stones. Window sills are dimensioned in limestone. All perforations for ducts and for descending the rainwater from the roof are included in the coursing plan and carried out at the quarry. At the height of the concrete floor slabs ‘cornices’ project rainwater free off the building’s walls all the while doubling as guide rail for the blinds.

Social housing with solid stone walls by Perraudin Architecture
Construction image

The building is located at the outskirts of Cornebarrieu, a town within the metropolitan area of Toulouse. It is part a new residential neighbourhood extending the town towards its forested western edge.

Social housing with solid stone walls by Perraudin Architecture
Detailed diagram one – click for larger image

It is based on a series of simple principles, which we have come to apply and refine over time. All materials are left untreated. As much as possible, all materials are left untreated, with no paint, no plaster. The woodwork is in larch, left to age with time. The stone acts as natural air conditioning, its thermal mass absorbing and releasing surplus heat and humidity. For reasons of comfort and ventilation, the housing units are systematically continuous from facade to facade.

Social housing with solid stone walls by Perraudin Architecture
Detailed diagram two – click for larger image

The bedrooms are in the north to take advantage of the summer freshness while on the south side a large terrace extends the living room, with nothing but a glass wall as separation. The staircases remain in open air and to enter the apartment one enters by the loggia. Flexible blinds protect this terrace and allow it to be used as a buffer-space softening climatic variations.

Social housing with solid stone walls by Perraudin Architecture
3D diagram – click for larger image

Life within this housing unit moves with the weather, one can activate and deactivate its great thermal mass while spaces change dynamically from being inside to outside according to the seasonal comfort.

Social housing with solid stone walls by Perraudin Architecture
Ground floor plan – click for larger image

The project has been nominated for the European Union Prize for Contemporary Architecture Mies van der Rohe Award 2013, the Equerre d’Argent 2011, and was winner of the Prix Développement Durable – Concours d’architecture Pierre Naturelle 2011.

Social housing with solid stone walls by Perraudin Architecture
Upper floor plan – click for larger image

Furthermore, the building has been finished within budget with its stone construction finishing well ahead of schedule. Due to this success, we are currently building the second phase of the development – 86 collective and individual housing units, partly social – using the same construction method and a budget below 1000 euro/m².

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UNStudio’s Chinese shopping centre is covered in silver balls

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

Shopping centre covered in silver balls by UNStudio

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.

Shopping centre covered in silver balls by UNStudio

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.

Shopping centre covered in silver balls by UNStudio

“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.

Shopping centre covered in silver balls by UNStudio

“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.

Shopping centre covered in silver balls by UNStudio

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

Shopping centre covered in silver balls by UNStudio

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.

Shopping centre covered in silver balls by UNStudio

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.”

Shopping centre covered in silver balls by UNStudio

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

Shopping centre covered in silver balls by UNStudio

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

Shopping centre covered in silver balls by UNStudio

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.

Shopping centre covered in silver balls by UNStudio

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.

Shopping centre covered in silver balls by UNStudio

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.

Shopping centre covered in silver balls by UNStudio

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.

Floor plan of Shopping centre covered in silver balls by UNStudio
Floor plan – click for larger image

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.

Shopping centre covered in silver balls by UNStudio
Section diagram – click for larger image

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.

Shopping centre covered in silver balls by UNStudio
Atrium concept diagram – click for larger image

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

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