IM Shanghai by Aedas

IM Shanghai

The development, located at the intersection of Kaixuan Road and Huaihai West Road of Changning District and conveniently accessible via MTR Line 10 at Hongqiao Road Station, is adjacent to the Shanghai City Sculpture Art Centre, and Redtown Art District. The site is not among any of the CBDs in Shanghai. Thus, a primary and key purpose of the development is to drive business value by attracting tenants and consumers as it integrates with the surrounding context.

An Ink Scroll Depicting a Rugged Landscape
Derived from concept of mountains, the development stands to present a stratified geology providing pinnacles, caves, rocks and waterfalls in the valleys, with geometric office towers expressing as mountain peaks and rock-shaped pavilions lining alongside the busy traffic flow in between to form a dynamic streetscape.

A cultural tower, 3 office towers, 2 exhibition pavilions and 5 retail pavilions within the development are strategically scattered on the site to form a layered mountainous experience of the wild nature. Ascending office towers are sculpted with powerful tapering cuts, expressing as mountain peaks and leading the eyes to the apex.

Inspired by traditional Chinese landscape painting, layering of a mountainous contour is depicted by using Void and Solid striation, which also assist in complying with the glazing to wall ratio requirement. Along Kaitian Road features a dynamic serrated façade symbolizing fissure through the mountain, together with busy traffic flowing in-between, a vibrant streetscape is created.

Rock-inspired pavilions are featured with surface details of symbolic “cracks”, and cut-out terraces on top forming unique form for each block and allowing consumers to enjoy an uninterrupted view of the “mountainous” scenery they are in. Cave-like sunken plazas are smartly set to allow natural daylight into the basement as it enhances pedestrian circulation and connection between northern and southern part of the development.

Spatial Layout of Mountain Range & Water Streams
The overall layout takes a bird’s-eye view and captures a panoramic snapshot of the bucolic surrounding. An ink painting in a city emerges from the collaging of mountain peaks, stone forests, caves, courtyards, canyons that emulate varied architectural shapes.

Run across the site is Kaitian Road, a fissure below which runs the traffic current and bifurcates the rocks to occasion a face-to-face outlook between the multi-storey commercial buildings. The cultural tower, office towers, retail and exhibition pavilions are couched in a jagged manner which contributes to its dynamic and grandiose appearance, viewed from the West.

The sunken plaza that connects the north and the south creates an illusion of a cave rift, completing the silhouette of an iconic mountainous terrain. To mitigate negative shading impacts to the environment, and provide a solution for the problem of residence insolation, the stacking building blocks are sensibly arranged through rigorous analysis on site setback, mechanical loading and solar requirements. Source by Aedas.

  • Location: Shanghai, China
  • Architect: Aedas
  • Designer: Christine Lam, Global Design Principal; David Clayton, Global Design Principal
  • Client: K2 Real Estate (Shanghai Heshi Investment Development Co. Ltd)
  • GFA: 259,000 sq m
  • Completion Year: 2021
  • Photographs: Courtesy of Aedas

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