Happy New Year from PLA! We hope everyone has a wonderful (and well-designed) year.
It should be an exciting year for one of the largest projects currently under construction here at PLA – H-Max City, a 1.5 million SF mixed-use project located in Shaoxing, China.
The uses include hotels, urban villas, shops, restaurants, teahouses, theaters (including an IMAX), a department store and even several luxury car showrooms (a popular attraction in Shoaxing!) The built spaces are arranged around a pedestrian network with numerous plazas, public spaces, landscape features, fountains and small streams. Parking is provided underground (2,000 spaces).
Located in Zhejiang Province, Shaoxing is situated at the southern end of the Yangzi River Delta, and is only 30 KM from Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province’s capitol and largest city. Zhejiang’s rolling hills, verdant landscape and abundant rivers and lakes create beautiful backdrops for its cities.
Shoaxing is well known for its poets and writers, like Lu Xun and Zhou Zuoren, as well as its famous rice wine. Premier Zhou Enlai (who orchestrated Nixon’s visit to China) was also born in this lush city of canals and waterways.
The project’s design and strategic location helps connect the commercial street (running N-S) with the beautiful riverfront park that circumscribes the oval-shaped ancient city. Major public spaces at either end of the E-W spine help mark site entrances while welcoming visitors. Additional public spaces of various sizes and scales provide a pleasant and rich experience for visitors and residents alike.
H-Max City is being developed by the Jindi Real Estate Group, and is the culmination of a 9 month design collaboration with Green Design Union (Jue Zhan) and Professor Zhou of Zhejiang University Architecture Department. During the most intense stages of design, some 20 people in our office worked on helping complete the design and construction drawings in order to meet the hyper-fast schedules. Construction is slated to take two years, finishing up in early 2015.
