On a site that also hosts the Olympic Sports Centre, the 2023 Asian Games complex, UNStudio has unveiled the design of the new Hiwell Amber Centre, a complex of four high-rise towers planned to add a mix of offices, apartments, hotels, art spaces and retail to the city center of Hangzhou, China. Responding to the area’s rapid economic and cultural growth, the new development aims to provide a wide range of services to residents and visitors alike. To open up towards the city, the smooth glass curtain wall of the towers peels apart to reveal a tapestry-like facade that envelops the main plazas and civic spaces, creating an ‘urban living room.’
Measuring over 260,000 square meters, the Hiwell Amber Centre is comprised of four high-rise towers: two of them dedicated to residential units, one of them featuring office spaces, and a fourth mixed-use tower housing a hotel and offices. The complex sits atop a plinth that accommodates a conference center, hotel ballroom, commercial units, an art museum, as well as additional community facilities. By using a variety of podiums and dynamic open spaces, UNStudio aimed to create a large-scale ‘Urban Living Room,’ creating a variety of open public spaces. The existing landscape conditions have also influenced the design of the complex, which allows for obstructed views towards the Dongfeng River, a tributary of the Qiantang River, and the adjacent buildings.
The facades of the central mixed-use tower open with glass canopies toward the central plaza, creating a gesture of openness and transparency. The wing-like canopies flow toward the lower areas to create a connection between the internal and external courtyards. The scaled glass of the canopies is designed to reflect sunlight and create a shimmering effect mimicking the waters of the Qiantang River. The resulting exterior spaces create an all-weather micro-environment, encouraging residents to interact and relax in the public spaces. The translucent canopy also maximizes daylight inside the building, while vertically placed fins prevent excessive heat penetration.
At ground level, the architectural volumes are adapted to better relate to the human scale, with horizontal variance introduced to also connect to the adjoining street. According to the architects, the design of the podiums and plazas of the lower levels takes cues from the ancient Liangzhu village in Hangzhou. The podium reinterprets the three-storey buildings of the rural settlement, while the conference center, commercial units, a hotel ballroom, and art museum take the image of villa-like volumes sheltered by a large canopy. It results in a fluid network of plazas and pedestrian connections with semi-outdoor areas creating an enjoyable environment for residents to relax and interact.
The architecture of the towers creates an effect of timeless simplicity. Within Hangzhou’s landmark-heavy skyline, the buildings are rooted in the city’s urban culture and its landscape through an open and welcoming gesture. Our design proposes a vibrant mixed-use attractor, both vertically and horizontally, that caters to working, living, and leisure. - Ben van Berkel
In preparation for the Hangzhou Asian Games 2022, Archi-Tectonics NYC and !Melk have announced the completion of the Hangzhou Asian Games Park, a 116-acre ecological park incorporating sports arenas and various facilities into a re-naturalized area that follows the principle of ‘sponge cities.” Also in Hangzhou, MVRDV has been selected to reimagine a former oil refinery factory into a cultural center set in a green environment, complete with a new art and science museum, offices, retail, and a wide variety of cultural offerings.
Project credits:
- UNStudio team: Ben van Berkel, Hannes Pfau with Erica Fang, Matt Burdalski, Judy Wong, Xiaorong Mo, Rafael Yoon, Zhengda Hou, Chengyang Liu, Cheng Tan, Chris Liu, Albert Yen, Craig Yan, Jon Espinosa Molano, Dongbo Han, Ami Nigam, Joanna Wang, Ray Wong, Haodong Hu, Yu Zhao, Junya Huang, Andres Monis Rodriguez, Ruijie Xu, Yufeng Tu, Joy Li, and Tony Hu, Antoine Muller, Shail Patel, Wei Huang, Biqin Li, Lawrence Ma, Bin Fu, Pedro Manzano Ruiz, Richard Stewart, Arturo Revilla Perez, Maya Calleja Calvo, Dongjie Qiu, Tsung-Yen Hsieh, Harsh Arora, Zhenyu Yang
- Local Executive Architect: China United Engineering Corporation Limited
- Structure: Canopy+T3: ARUP
- Façade: Canopy: ARUP. Towers: Positive Attitude Group (PAG)
- Fire Engineering: Hotel: RJA
- MEP: Hotel: Squire Mech. Apartment & Office: MJP M&E Consultant
- Kitchen: Hotel: RICCA
- Landscape: JTL Studio
- Lighting: Brandston Partnership. Inc (BPI)
- Visualisations (CGI): produced by SAN. ©Hiwell Properties / ICON
