China Resources Land MixC Park | Shanghai, China | 2019

Architects: Ennead Architects LLP
Associate Architects: Tianhua Architecture Planning & Engineering Ltd.
Client: China Resources Land Limited General
Contractor: The First Company of China Eighth Engineering Division Ltd.

The design of the China Reseources Land, Shanghai MixC Park creates a model for future-ready, business ecosystems. Offering a place for shared activity and continuous collaboration, the MixC Park will help attract and retain the best available talent in any marketplace.

The MixC Park creates a series of flexible, open workspaces, punctuated with opportunities for shopping, dining, and socializing; and linked by vibrant, pedestrian corridors that bring the site together and connect it with the adjacent Minghang Cultural Park and the surrounding urban fabric.

A series of individual building elements are arrayed along the North and South axis of the linear site. Collectively, these elements frame a central interior courtyard through the site while the gaps between the buildings allow for secondary circulation paths across the site. Subtle shifts in the massing enhance the building and circulation arrangement by creating more intimate, human-scaled relationships between forms and places and people, such as the sunken courtyards and elevated terraces.

The North and South facing facades are comprised of taut and transparent planes with minimal articulation, and horizontal openings are periodically introduced into the massing to reduce the scale of volumes. In contrast, the East and West facing facades exhibit a continuous rhythm of vertical fins, each with a custom profile and depth in response to solar orientation. The lively mix of facade designs offers an ephemeral shifting appearance as one circulates in, around, and through the buildings. 

The site organization was informed by grouping the two distinct types of potential tenants – three leasable buildings to the west and two buildings operated and maintained by the building client to the east – connected by a public shared lobby. The shared lobby contains a three-story atrium, dramatic circulation bridge, and a delicate timber screen that protects the interior from direct sunlight.

Serving as a key design driver, the expansive lobby is a central node of collaboration and interaction spaces that offers a memorable and symbolic center for the project. The shared atrium also unites the interior with the exterior courtyard through the sunken plaza that includes ample seating, ornamental gardens, and a water feature.

The interior common areas are organized to provide a variety of space for flexible collaboration and continual activity over the course of a full day. To achieve this goal, a diverse mixed-use program is broken into a series of distinctly crafted zones, each customized for different activities, and distributed throughout the complex to encourage social interaction.

The central courtyard and supporting sunken plazas form the ‘green heart’ of the development and serve as a physical and visual connector between the complex’s adjacent buildings. At night, the interior lighting from the space create a beacon for the site, drawing visitors in from surrounding spaces.