URBAN RIPPLE

Urban Ripple
Guangzhou | China

Urban Ripple is a hyper-stimulating public space designed by 100architects around a newly built Exhibition Center in Guangzhou, the most populous city of Guangdong Province, China.

Driven by youngster’s lifestyle, the Exhibition Center intends to call the attention of millennials and Gen Z through a wide range of functions, such as Modern Art Gallery, Party Rooms, Cinema, Band Room, Workshop Room, etc.

Urban Ripple | Official Video | 100 Channel

In order to follow up that narrative, 100architects was commissioned to design a very eye-catching, stimulating and multifunctional public space surrounding the building, aiming to boost the visitor experience before even entering the building. The hyper-stimulating space is permanently open to public, not only for the Exhibition Center’s visitors but any passerby since this area completely belongs to the public realm.

The project is inspired by the famous Zhujiang River (Pearl River), one of the most important and proud icons of Guangzhou, which also gives name to the client’s company. It features a simple yet striking combinative system of geometrized water ripples, where the main public functions for social interaction are placed, and striped urban corridors resembling the flow of the river while suggesting and encouraging pedestrian circulation.

The main space of the project is right in front of the exhibition center; a colorful sunken plaza with seating features, greenery and shading structures, strategically located in the heart of this urban space, contrasting with all the greyscale circulations revolving around itself.

Besides the patterns, the use of color plays a key role in the clear definition of both spaces, the one for staying and engaging socially as well as the one for circulating. Thus, circulation corridors are solved with shades of grey stone pavement, while for injecting vitality in functional spaces, vibrant colors are applied, using as a base, shades of aquamarine color for the pavements. On the other hand, contrasting, energetic & uplifting colors highlight the urban furniture and other features, in order to call and direct the attention of passersby.

The project is not only in the ground floor, but also extends to the rooftop of the building colonizing with an elevated plaza the top floor of the Exhibition Center, filling it up with colors, shading structures and seating features.

Urban Ripple is equipped with several sitting features, amphitheaters for gathering or public performances, lounge areas, stools & tables under canopies to rest under shadows, as well as playful and interactive features, offering joyful and entertainment spaces for all kind of age groups.

Altogether, the proposal creates a very uncommon and surprising public space, beautifying the surroundings of the Exhibition Center while boosting and stimulating visitors’ senses and experiences in the public realm.

Credits

PROJECT NAME: Urban Ripple
DESIGN: 100 Architects (Shanghai) Co., Ltd.
DESIGN TEAM: Marcial Jesús, Javier González, Mónica Páez, Lara Broglio, Ponyo Zhao, Keith Gong, Cosima Jiang, Hayley Huang, Michelle Aldora, Jango Zhang & Yuntong Liu.
PROJECT MANAGEMENT TEAM: Jenny Fan, Nicholas Lv & Eva Jiang.
CLIENT: Zhujiang Properties
SIZE: 4,000 m2
STATUS: Built
LOCATION: Guangzhou (China)
PHOTOGRAPHY: 郭小良
VIDEOGRAPHY: Lalo Lopez

OCTOPUS KINGDOM

Octopus Kingdom
Shenzhen | China

Octopus Kingdom is a new example of eye-catching urban playscape designed by 100architects on the rooftop of Gateaway One, a newly built shopping mall in Nanshan District, Shenzhen, China. It is a hyper-stimulating urban toy for Nanshan District and for all the visitors of the mall, a colorful intervention that acts as an urban attractor, calling the attention by standing out from its urban surrounding environment.

Octopus Kingdom | Official Video | 100 Channel

Octopus Kingdom By Rex Zou | Official Video | 100 Channel

The playscape resembles a small village of sand castles on the seaside, and a gigantic Octopus emerging from the sea and approaching curiously the shore of this paradisiac beach, mesmerized by those colorful sand castles.

The 7-meters-high Octopus head, arises as the main IP play object visible from all the surrounding buildings, while its 8 wavy & meandering tentacles are playful courses of challenging activities and obstacles at the ground level, helping children to develop their physical abilities and cognitive skills while learning through play.

The 9 colorful sand castles on the beach create a “Play Route” which children can travel crossing from castle to castle, discovering new play opportunities in each of them.

The colorful floor, solved with EPDM to absorb impacts while playing, renders a beach, by using different shades of yellow to represent the sand, and different shades of blue to represent the sea.

Besides the main Octopus and the sand castles, the playscape is equipped with several sitting features, like the amphitheater for gathering, or stools & tables under a group of marine canopies for adults to rest while kids have fun.

The decorative lighting strategy seeking to achieve an impressive night effect, highlights the most recognizable profiles of the project, that is all the edges of the Octopus head, the edges of the sand castles and the edges of the amphitheater. Sparkling dots of light are embedded into the floor for a magical environmental effect, while custom-made algae-shaped lamps are implemented in the perimeter for a holistic and immersive marine experience.

Credits

PROJECT NAME: Octopus Kingdom
DESIGN: 100 Architects (Shanghai) Co., Ltd.
DESIGN TEAM: Marcial Jesús, Javier González, Mónica Páez, Lara Broglio, Keith Gong, Cosima Jiang, Ponyo Zhao, Elena Michelutti, Hayley Huang, Jango Zhang & Yuntong Liu.
PROJECT MANAGEMENT TEAM: Jenny Fan, Nicholas Lv & Eva Jiang.
CLIENT: Shenzhen Merchants Real Estate
SIZE: 750 m2
STATUS: Built
LOCATION: Shenzhen (China)
PHOTOGRAPHY: Rex Zou
VIDEOGRAPHY: Lalo Lopez

THE NEST

The Nest
Chongqing | China

The Nest is another example of eye-catching and hyper-stimulating design done by 100architects to improve and beautify the urban public realm, in this case in the city of Chengdu, the capital of the Chinese province of Sichuan.

The Nest | Official Video | 100 Channel

The Nest By Rex Zou | Official Video | 100 Channel

The project belongs to a particular typology of urban public interventions intending to be “urban toys for the city”. Following the studio’s belief that “Play is not only for kids”, 100architects have designed this urban playscape to boost joy and entertainment for kids and adults alike, regardless of their age. A colorful playscape that acts as an urban attractor, calling the attention by standing out from its urban surrounding environment.

The narrative of the design of this multifunctional playscape, and hence its name The Nest, is driven and inspired by the idea of a colorful birth, a magical moment of birth of two little chicks in their nest, being accompanied by their mother bird, who is trying to provide them with their first meal.

The three birds, as main IP objects, emerge in the center as vertical play structures which can be habitable by kids, climbing up & sliding down, finding in each of them different play opportunities. Surrounding the main birds, the project evolves with a pattern based on circles, which act as platforms for leisure and social interaction and in which a wide range of other functions are implemented in order to enhance the multifunctionality of the playscape.

Those surrounding circles provide kids for instance with a sunken sandpit, swings or a trampoline; youngsters with a round ping-pong table and a fitness core; and adults & elders with features such as a Chinese chess table, elderly exercising equipment, and even different sitting components under eggshell-shaped canopies for shadowing.

As a way of sewing all the circular components together, a meandering running track is used around them, turning the playscape into a multifunctional circuit of events to be enjoyed by kids & adults alike.

To complete this urban intervention in a holistic way, the surrounding landscape is also solved with circular shapes of greenery, bushes, flowers and trees, enclosing the playscape in a safe way for kids to play freely.

The colorful floor, solved with EPDM to absorb impacts while playing, renders a wide range of patterns, graphics and interactive games which connect the different spaces and activities of the space.

The night effect of the project enhances the meandering shapes of all the eggshells through decorative lighting with flex LED strips on the edges. This includes the eggshells from which the little chicks are arise, and the ones serving as shadowing canopies. For functional lighting, lampposts were designed with smaller eggshell-shaped lamps on top.

Credits

PROJECT NAME: The Nest
DESIGN: 100 Architects (Shanghai)
DESIGN TEAM: Marcial Jesús, Javier González, Mónica Páez, Lara Broglio, Ponyo Zhao, Keith Gong, Cosima Jiang, Hayley Huang, Jango Zhang & Yuntong Liu.
PROJECT MANAGEMENT TEAM: Jenny Fan, Nicholas Lv & Eva Jiang.
CLIENT: New Hope Group (新希望集团)
SIZE: 1,300 m2
STATUS: Built
LOCATION: Chengdu (China)
PHOTOGRAPHY: Rex Zou
VIDEOGRAPHY: Lalo Lopez

HERMIT RETREAT

Hermit retreat
Pingwu County | Sichuan Province | China

Tradition vs. Modernity

The Hermit retreat has been designed to become a distinguished rural destination in Pingwu County, where Chinese tradition meets modern luxury.

Therefore, the design is strongly inspired in traditional Chinese rural architecture, but with a modern twist. We believe that the mixture of traditional & modern styles is the key for a successful boutique touristic destination in a rural setting. Thus, we have adopted certain traditional features of Chinese rural architecture into our design.

Fish-bone Masterplan vs. Atomized Masterplan

The challenge of this project was designing 1 rural hotel split in 2 different plots. The original position of the existing buildings in Plot 1 and Plot 2 are irregular and atomized.

Therefore, with the aim of sewing both plots together, we use a Fish-bone Scheme, in which the central path in between both plots is the main spine or lane, and from there we can easily reach and access every pavilion through secondary paths.

In order to achieve an efficient Fish-bone Scheme, we re-position all the pavilions nearby the main spine, separating the pavilions in Plot 2 from the neighbor pre-existing constructions on the North part, and proposing new pavilions in Plot 1, also closer to the central path.

The main spine, besides being the main circulation area, turns into a platform with areas for contemplation and social interaction, uniting both plots naturally into one comprehensive joint proposal.

Villas vs. Rooms

In order to offer a premium, private, cozy, boutique experience, we opted for organizing the units in separated wooden villas built on piles, rather than in rooms within the same building. This enhances the sense of privacy, and allows us to create private outdoor terraces to connect with nature in a much closer way.

The Elevated Lobby Building

The lobby building has been elevated from the ground level in order to obtain an extra covered, usable, open public space underneath for social interactions among guests. This open common space counts with a BBQ area, and a communal long table for sharing meals or bonfires at night.

Since it’s covered but not closed, its GFA counts as 50%, a good strategy to gain a big common usable area without increasing too much the total GFA of the plot.

The GFA of Happiness

Even though the GFA for the entire project was very limited, we have prioritized comfort, coziness, and happiness over built m2.

In the Plot 1, the brief suggested to use 160m2 as maximum building area, using 100m2 for the Lobby & common areas, and 60m2 in rooms. We completely inverted that formula, dedicating 100m2 to the villas to be able to get 3 villas of 33,3 m2 each + outdoor terrace, while using only 60m2 for the Lobby Building.
In the Plot 2, the brief suggested to use 120m2 as maximum building area, dedicating 100m2 to rooms and just 20m2 to open pavilions.

The Outdoor Areas

Attractive common outdoor areas can be used as selling points by the hotel managers, and ultimately will be what makes a great experience for guests.

Besides the central path as a space for contemplation, with outdoor seating opportunities, we have also created twisted versions of Chinese pavilions, covered spaces fostering social gatherings, playing, resting and fun outdoor experiences.

As outdoor features, we also created a “Gate Element” inspired in Chinese gates placed at the entrances of old towns or neighborhoods, indicating that once trespassing that gate, the nice experience begins.

Credits

PROJECT NAME: Hermit retreat
DESIGN: 100 Architects (Shanghai)
DESIGN TEAM: Marcial Jesús, Javier González, Mónica Páez, Lara Broglio, Keith Gong, Cosima Jiang, Ponyo Zhao, Elena Michelutti, Hayley Huang, Jango Zhang & Yuntong Liu.
PROJECT MANAGEMENT TEAM: Jenny Fan, Nicholas Lv & Eva Jiang.
CLIENT: Fortune Art Magazine (FA财富堂杂志社)
SIZE: 750m2
STATUS: Concept Design
LOCATION: Sichuan (China)

PEGASUS TRAIL

Pegasus Trail
Chongqing | China

Pegasus Trail is a new milestone in the typology of urban public interventions made by 100architects in the Public Realm. In this occasion, the neighborhood-scale intervention landed in the ever-growing city of Chongqing, the 3rd largest city of China and one of the Chinese megacities with greatest growth rates in the past decade.

Pegasus Trail Movie | Official Video | 100 Channel

This project intends to be a new typology of public space, “an urban toy for the city”. Following the studio’s belief that “Play is not only for kids”, 100architects have designed an urban playscape for the city, and for all its citizens, regardless of their age.

A playscape that acts as an urban attractor, merged with the cityscape, blurring the boundaries between the play area and the surrounding cityscape, and presenting itself open and accessible for everyone.

The design of this multifunctional playscape, and hence its name Pegasus, is inspired by equestrian sports, in which the horse is the central feature of disciplines such as “Dressage” and “Show Jumping”.

The mythical winged horse leaves a magical yellow trace behind, meandering accurately around circular mini-plazas that serve as platforms for leisure and social interactions, turning the playscape into a multifunctional public space to be enjoyed by kids & adults alike.

Like the equestrian sports, the design of Pegasus Trail is based on a challenging course of obstacles that users need to overcome successfully, turning the playscape into a “Play Route”. It has been designed as a playful course of challenging activities along the path of the yellow ribbon, which helps developing and challenging the physical abilities and cognitive skills of those who dare to try.

All the playful components of the Play Route have been carefully studied and designed to create a sequential circuit of events, composed of challenging activities to be executed one after the other in a linear way.

Therefore, the Play Route has been split into different sections with different complexities for different groups of children’s ages. This way, we have an easier level of complexity in playful components for kids from 3 to 6 years old at the horse’s tail, and it gradually increases while getting closer to the horse’s head, presenting bigger challenges for kids from 6 to 14 years old.

The ribbon meanders around 3 circular mini-plazas hosting different typologies of urban furniture for resting. While the ribbon represents the play and the action for kids, the circular plazas represent the rest and the calm spaces for parents and adults.

In order to make the ribbon very eye-catching and stand out from its surrounding background, it was done in a bright and intense yellow color, an energetic color that quickly grabs the attention of passersby, and can evoke a sense of happiness, vitality and optimism.

The floor, solved with EPDM to absorb impacts while playing, renders a wide range of patterns, graphics and interactive games which connect the different spaces and activities on the ribbon.

The night effect of the project enhances the meandering profile of the ribbon with LED warm lightboxes embedded in both borders of the ribbon, while other LED lightboxes embedded in the floor highlight as well the perimeter of the circular plazas.

Credits

PROJECT NAME: Pegasus Trail
DESIGN: 100 Architects (Shanghai)
DESIGN TEAM: Marcial Jesús, Javier González, Mónica Páez, Lara Broglio, Keith Gong, Cosima Jiang, Ponyo Zhao, Elena Michelutti, Hayley Huang, Jango Zhang & Yuntong Liu.
PROJECT MANAGEMENT TEAM: Jenny Fan, Nicholas Lv & Eva Jiang.
CLIENT: Dong Yuan Dichan Properties (东原地产)
SIZE: 3,600 m2
STATUS: Built
LOCATION: Chongqing (China)
PHOTOGRAPHY: Rex Zou
VIDEOGRAPHY: Lalo Lopez

THE ORANGE MOON

The Orange Moon
Jamsil Hangang Park Natural Swimming Pools | Seoul | South Korea

The Orange Moon | Official Video | 100 Channel

The Orange Ring is a metropolitan intervention that aims to boost commerce and tourism catalyzing economic development by positioning this huge object on the riverbank of the Hang River, contributing to the city brand identity with a functional and eye catching project that will serve the entire city.

Drawing inspiration from the captivating sight of the Orange Moon phenomenon, our project, Orange Moon, finds its home in the heart of Seoul, a city that thrives amidst the harmony of urban life and natural beauty. Situated along the banks of the Han River, Orange Moon serves as a beacon, echoing the mesmerizing circular form and vibrant hue of the Orange Moon in the night sky. Just as Seoul embraces its natural surroundings, our project seeks to embody this connection to nature. The Orange Moon project symbolizes a harmonious blend of nature and architecture, serving as a beacon of innovation and beauty within Seoul’s urban landscape, celebrating the city’s rich cultural heritage and enduring bond with the natural world.

With the purpose of improving the existing public facility of the Swimming Pool in Jamsil Hangang Park, the Municipality of Seoul launched a Competition for a design solution that would bring back the former glory of this 30-years-old facility on the banks of the Hang River. Not only by renovating the Swimming Pools themselves, but also seeking a solution that would reactivate the entire Park as a public destination within the City of Seoul.

Our mission transcended the renovation of the existing pools, targeting the reestablishment of the natural landscape and fulfilling an entire urban regeneration, turning Hangang Park into a major urban and ecological landmark for the city of Seoul, to be used throughout all seasons.

The proposal unifies the pool complex with the surrounding cultural facilities. On the West, the Sagak Sagak Artistic Area, and on the East, the Botanical Learning Center. The plan connects those 3 facilities through a system of meandering interweaved pedestrian paths, allowing easy pedestrian accessibility between all of them, transforming the entire riverfront into a prominent public natural destination.

The proposal draws its inspiration from Taegeuk, the traditional Korean symbol which can be found in the National Flag of South Korea, as a very honored, loyal illustrative and recognizable shape. A perfect circle split in two halves, red & blue, representing the balance in the universe.

The search for this balance between nature & architecture, is the core of our design, translating the Taegeuk into an orange circular object, a pedestrian walkway shaped as a ring that encloses the main pool facility. This circular walkway is interrupted at the riverbank, hovering over the river, a belvedere allowing amazing views over the Hang River.

Curving upwards towards the highway, the elevated pedestrian walkway shields the pools from the traffic noise, and accommodates necessary indoor facilities under its roof at the same time. It flattens at the intersection with the riverfront promenade, in order to ease pedestrian connectivity; and finally, it protrudes over the riverbank, creating two walkable piers overlooking both, the river and the restored nature of the riverbank.

The undulating intertwined pedestrian paths create opportunities and affordances for the park’s public program. Programmatic interventions for entertainment and leisure spaces within the natural environment are envisioned, offering valuable interactions with nature. Spaces for practicing a wide range of sports, resting areas, shading structures and natural kids playscapes, resulting in a multifunctional park suitable for all kind of ages.

All pools are designed in a sustainable way to naturally clean its water by using a helophyte filtering system with reeds planted around the pools. The treatment of cleaning the water is naturally done by bacteria living in the roots of the planted reeds.
This project is a creative international collaboration between 100 Architects (Shanghai), Carve (Amsterdam) and Urien (Seoul), with the local coordination & support of the landscape architect Walter Ryu.

CREDITS:

Project Name: The Orange Ring
Design: 100 Architects (Shanghai) + Carve (Amsterdam)
100 Architects’ Design Team: Marcial Jesús, Javier González, Lara Broglio, Mónica Páez, Keith Gong, Cosima Jiang, Ponyo Zhao, Elena Michelutti.
Carve’s Design Team: Elger Blitz, Marleen Beek, Elke Krausmann, Susanna Vissani.
Local Partner in Seoul: Walter Ryu
Korean Landscape Architects: URIEN
Client: Seoul Metropolitan City, Hangang Project Headquarters.
Location: Jamsil Hangang Park, Seoul, South Korea
Area: 75,000 m2
Status: Concept Design

HIDDEN GARDEN

Hidden Garden
Minhang | Shanghai | China

Hidden Garden is an exterior renovation of a sunken plaza giving access to a mixed-use complex in Minhang, the suburban district in the South-West of Shanghai.

Besides serving as access plaza to the commercial and office buildings, the sunken plaza is also an open-air semipublic space fully open to the public throughout the day.

Hidden Garden Cheerful| Official Video | 100 Channel

This revamp of this almost abandoned sunken plaza had as a main objective turning the grey and obsolete space into an eye-catching, bold and vibrant public space fostering social interactions, entertainment and a fun immersive experience below the surface of buzzy intersection streets in Minhang.

Photo © RexZou

The project was conceptualized as if we had buried a seed in a colorless ground unleashing a colorful blooming explosion of life, gigantic flowers and entertainment features triggering the occurrence of this wonderful blooming garden.

Photo © RexZou

In order to bring the sunken plaza to life, we colonized all the basement floor with a circle-packing Colorscape, mimicking colorful flower buds perceived from top view, which is the way we figured most of the visitors would get a first glance at the sunken space as they access from the surface.

Photo © RexZou

Many of those circles feature interactive games, graphics and messages in them, encouraging a functional and eventful activation of the floor and the space.

Photo © RexZou

With the aim of enhancing the whole garden experience and immerse visitors in it, 3 oversized flowers sprout up from the ground, serving as playful and resting platforms under comfortable shadows, for kids and adults alike.

Photo © RexZou

Seating features were designed as little colorful sprouts, while the main playful feature is rendered as a meandering flower stem than bends to allocate swings and passages.

Nearby the flowers, and guarded by 4 colorful columns, lies a mini-amphitheater for kids to meet, socialize and play around it.

Photo © RexZou

As a result, the revamped sunken space has been transformed into an attractor and a destination for a diverse group of users targeting families and youngsters.

Commercially specking it has increased importantly the flow of people helping to ensure the success of the commercial scheme in which is immersed.

Photo © RexZou

Hidden Garden Mystery| Explanatory Video | 100 Channel

Credits

PROJECT NAME: Secret Garden
DESIGN: 100 Architects (Shanghai)
DESIGN TEAM: Marcial Jesús, Javier González, Lara Broglio, Mónica Páez, Keith Gong, Cosima Jiang, Ponyo Zhao, Elena Michelutti, Ginger Huang
CLIENT: Capitaland
SIZE: 1,280 m2
STATUS: Built
LOCATION: No 6088 Humin road, Minhang district, Shanghai (China)

HIGH LOOP

High Loop
Life Hub | Shanghai | China

High Loop is a proposal for the renovation of Puji Road pedestrian bridge in Shanghai, the iconic bridge over the Suzhou Creek that connects the districts of Zhabei and Jing’an.

Official Video | Youtube Channel

The Suzhou Creek is known to be a museum of bridges because of the large amount of those structures crossing over the creek. This one in particular was first built over the Suzhou Creek in 1997 for pedestrians only.
On 2009 for the World Expo of Shanghai, the bridge was renovated to allow access to small vehicles such bikes and scooters besides the pedestrians, improving the connectivity between Jing’an district and Zhabei district.

The bridge extends over a kilometer in length as an elevated platform offering unique urban views from one of the most representative areas of Shanghai.
However, it is currently underestimated when compared with other bridges crossing the Creek, hiding its uniqueness and amazing potential to become an urban landmark in Shanghai.

Our proposal aims to transform the bridge into an eventful elevated park crossing the city offering a unique urban journey through one of the densest areas of Shanghai. The grey asphalt gives way to bold and bright colors, turning the bridge into an eye-catching elevated urban landmark.

The design strategy of the High Loop organizes the different circulations by colors, creating a hierarchy of different rhythms and paces in which the bridge can be transited.
While a straight lane in electric lime color defines the fast track for bicycles and motorbikes, a winding path in viscous magenta color was purposely introduced to slow down the pedestrian circulation.

A contrasting loop that encourages pedestrians to take it slow, enjoy the journey and the privileged views over Shanghai’s urban landscape and the Suzhou Creek.

As background color, a soothing cyan blue defines the spaces to stop & stay, spaces to socialize, meet and gather. From viewing decks to picnic plazas, lounge areas or mini amphitheaters, it’s in these cyan blue pockets where all the contrasting yellow urban furniture and social functions are located, allowing the loop to wind around them, encouraging the appearance of those pockets.

In addition, new greenery planters are introduced, either as decorative elements or as functional separators of the motored track and the pedestrian path.
Besides those functions, some of the cyan blue patches have been purposely left empty in order to leave flexible spaces to keep allowing the occurrence of informal pop-up night markets and vendors commonly seen in the current version of the bridge.

The design does not change the current structure but rather transforms it by only adding a colorful painted scape and functional urban objects on top, improving circulation system and adding functional pocket.

Official trailer 1| Youtube Channel

Official trailer 2| Youtube Channel

Credits

PROJECT NAME: High Loop
DESIGN: 100 Architects (Shanghai)
DESIGN TEAM: Marcial Jesús, Javier González, Lara Broglio, Mónica Páez, Keith Gong, Cosima Jiang, Ponyo Zhao, Elena Michelutti, Ginger Huang
CLIENT: Undisclosed
SIZE: 1,000 m.
STATUS: Concept Design
LOCATION: Puji Road Bridge, Jing’an District, Shanghai (China)

THE SHOWER

The Shower
Life Hub | Shanghai | China

The Shower is a creative and eye-catching intervention on the central plaza of Life Hub @ Daning for the joy and entertainment of kids, families and youngsters. A platform to foster social interactions and quality time outdoor during the summer months.

The SHower | Official Video | 100A Channel

The shower is a public space project that offers an alternative to the traditional concept of plaza, catalyzing social dynamics and activating urban spaces.
It’s inspired by summer elements that could bring some freshness to the plaza, such as sea, water splash, summer breeze, surfing and summer lifestyle in general.

To create that summer environmental narrative, we designed a multifunctional platform with the iconic shapes of waves, based on different stripes waving up & down which generate a series of spaces for playing, for climbing up or sliding down, for sitting and laying down to have a break from the buzzy life, etc…

To enhance the water narrative, we created a playful orange water pipe ending with a huge shower faucet splashing water to the center of the installation, which gives the illusion that water runs through the pipe.

As could not be otherwise, the color palette of the installation ranges in 4 different shades of marine blue, a very summery color palette to better represent the waves feeling.
The shades of blue are contrasting with the vivid orange of the water pipe and the shower, so they can enhance each other by contrast.

The multifunctional installation counts with a waving amphitheater directly facing the stage on the other side of the plaza, climbing ropes, a wide communal slide for several people to enjoy it simultaneously, a surfing selfie spot, a pipe tunnel, and some games as floor graphics for kids to interact with the surfaces.
Since most of us won’t be able to travel this summer to seaside destinations due to the current known circumstances, The Shower will surely bring you a piece of summer to Shanghai.

CREDITS:

Project name: The Shower
Designer: 100architects
Design team: Marcial Jesús, Javier González, Lara Broglio, Keith Gong, Cosima Jiang, Ginger Huang
Production: Hong Yang Advertising
Client: Life Hub @ Daning, (Chongbang Group)
Location: Daning Road, Jin’An District, Shanghai, China
Built area: 350 m2
Completion: June 2020
Photography: Marcos Romano
Videography: Lalo López

HORSELAND

Horse Land
Chongqing | China

HORSELAND is a public space project comprising a combination of landscape design and different outdoor facilities in a single space, such as sport features, playscape features for kids and leisure features for adults.

It is located in the hilly topographies of Chongqing, positioned in an urban plateau among residential buildings.
Its privileged location provides a unique viewpoint toward the green cityscape of this urban area.

HORSELAND | Official Video | 100 Channel

Following our series theme of “Horses”, the design of this vibrant and multifunctional public space resembles the abstract geometry of a Horse when seen from an aerial point of view.

Inspired by the basic circular sketching strokes commonly used to draw animals anatomy, the abstract geometry of the horse is drawn only by intercepting circles of different size.
We used the circle as basic geometry to reveal the different parts of the Horse’s body, as a design strategy to subdivide the space into multiple smaller functional pockets, turning the playscape into a multifunctional space to be enjoyed by kids & adults alike.

Transferring this idea to the spatial organization strategy of the project, we thought of creating a multifunctional public space by the combination and intersection of smaller independent fractions of circles, using smaller circles for simple functions and bigger circles for more elaborated ones.

Besides having leisure spaces to be enjoyed by adults, such as seating and resting features, the project also counts with a series of play pockets for the entertainment of young users, such as a climbing surface, an amphitheater hill or a mini basketball court among others.

However, the most prominent and eye-catching feature is the biggest circle, which consists on a circular elevated pipe from which are hanging many sport related features for outdoor fitness activities, enclosing a fitness area to complete the functional program.

The Horse is surrounded by circles of greenery to insert a pinch of nature within the proposal and complementing the overall doted landscape. Custom lighting features were designed specifically for this project, featuring branched poles with spherical bulbs matching the circular design language.

The big majority of playing surfaces and sport areas are solved with EPDM rubber in multiple vibrant colors to highlight the geometrical intersections of different circles.
The remaining circulation space is solved with shades of grey pavement stone, allowing a strong contrast with the shape of the Horse.

HORSELAND | Second Movie | 100 Channel

CREDITS:

Project Name: Horse Land
Design: 100architects (Shanghai)
Design Team: Marcial Jesús, Javier González, Lara Broglio, Mónica Páez, Keith Gong.
Client: DongYuan Dichan Properties
Area: 1,350 m2
Completion: January 2019
Location: Chongqing, China
Photography: RexZhou