Chapman Taylor’s extraordinary mixed-use districts across China

Chapman Taylor has designed many large-scale, mixed-use projects across China in recent years, some of which are extraordinary in scale and ambition. A mix of uses can create dynamic and commercially successful environments where people come for a ‘day out’ experience – to shop, eat, drink, socialise and be entertained.

These schemes create the basis for community hubs which remain active throughout the day and well into the evening. Below, we take a look at some of the most recent designs created by our Shanghai and Beijing studios to bring new social and commercial vigour to cities across the country.

This 580,000m² mixed-use project will sit beside Huangbai River in the older Yiling District of Yichang city. Shopping centres and streets will be arranged to form an attractive, terraced riverfront with landscaped promenades and green spaces. Space for recreational activities will be provided on two levels between the retail and the riverside, while a curving, landscaped pedestrian bridge will connect the scheme to the nearby river island and its park. The scheme will also provide office and hotel buildings along with 400,000m² of residential space across 12 landmark towers.

Chapman Taylor’s design creates a socially and economically vibrant waterfront destination in which people can live, shop, work and relax.

The Vanke Jinyu Dongjun mixed-use project will create a shopping centre and residential towers on a strategic corner site near the city centre. A striking glazed and terraced façade with extensive lobby planting will provide a memorable welcome entrance experience for visitors to the 177,000m² scheme.

A double-height entertainment atrium will provide a dynamic focal point for people of all generations, while the development will also include a cinema, a hypermarket, children’s play areas and extensive F&B options, all under a large and impressive glazed roof. The residential towers, which will offer excellent views over the city, will be served by high-speed lifts.

Chapman Taylor’s design includes planted terraces, a landscaped pedestrian plaza at the main entrance and a spacious roof garden hosting F&B options and relaxing surroundings.

Chapman Taylor won a design competition for two retail-led development blocks in a new mixed-use development to be built at Jinqiao, in Shanghai. The competition involved the design of nine building blocks, with 19 designers from 14 of the world’s best-known masterplanners and architects of mixed-use developments taking part. The competition was part of a collaborative process aimed at producing a new world-class, mixed-use district for Shanghai.

Chapman Taylor was the only company awarded two blocks to take forward to the next stages of design development. The aim is to open all nine blocks of the landmark 100-hectare development, which will be planned collaboratively between all the winning designers, within four years.

As part of the commercial development of the Zhengzhou Airport area, this 170,000m² mixed-use project includes 51,000m² of retail, a 14,400m² budget hotel and 35,400m² of office space, as well as a cinema and F&B options for use by residents, travellers and local workers. The scheme will create a five-level open-air shopping centre with underground parking, with the hotel and office space occupying levels 6 to 11.

The design maximises efficiency in the use of space, creating a varied streetscape which will enhance the entire area. The centre has a direct basement connection to a metro stop, and provides more than 1,400 car parking spaces.

Chapman Taylor is responsible for the concept scheme design to design development stages, providing detail design for the building plans and façade.

Chapman Taylor’s design for the renovation of the former Pudong Cement Factory site will create a northern creative hub for a large technology district, linked together by both physical and virtual infrastructure. The mix of uses will include offices, residential apartments and retail/F&B options.

The refurbished buildings will bring together technology and research companies and institutions in one place, helping to attract the most exciting ideas and the brightest talent to this vibrant area of Shanghai.

Chapman Taylor is a world leader in the design and delivery of mixed-use developments and has long been an advocate of designing and building mixed-use developments instead of monolithic single-use areas for better experiences and more diverse options. We believe that a mixed-use approach leads to more sustainable, socially vibrant and commercially successful places.