“Starry Future” – named by the developer, this mixed-use development aims to create an open community for future working, living and retail activities. The site is located in a new town of Xi’An in China, and the whole town is planned to be a new city center with its own economic and ecological system. Automobile and related industries will support the new town and create many job positions in the future, there will be a demand for this area to create future working and living spaces that can fulfill needs.

Global Design & Architecture Design Awards 2021
First Award | New Design Talent – Commercial

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Full-Circle Development: An Open Community

This project tends to fulfill people’s needs from their work to their life. We can split the building into parts: a 2-level retail street at ground level, and a C-Shape office / apartment tower above. A key word to the design is “Open” – the idea is to create an open community for people to enjoy their life in an open environment, from an open public retail street that welcomes people coming from any direction, to a tower with a C-shape courtyard that opens to the main street, also, with stepping roof terraces that carries green open common spaces. We believe the “Openness” is an important term to present future spatial quality and life.

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Retail Street:

Community platform for social gatherings

Retail street opens to the surrounding communities at major intersections. One internal street connecting node plazas, creating a rhythm for visitors to enjoy the shopping experience. Second level are all connected with rooftop spaces and bridges, balcony spaces at the back are provided to some of the 2nd level shops and it’ll help to create comfortable outdoor dining experiences.

As a mixed-use development, the main tower is a huge container for working and living activities, and the 2-level retail street at ground level is a big community platform for social gatherings. Other than shopping activities, lots of social events are going to happen here and we want to make sure that our spaces are ready. Public open spaces – node plazas, street furniture, and the big landscape stair and semi-private open spaces – terraces and balconies, are well designed to host all of these activities.

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Tower Massing: Open to sunlight and green spaces

The building massing was generated within a tight boundary defined by many different restrictions. After we can make it work, we make it better by opening up the building more: a C-shape plan to create a courtyard that opens to the main road and stepping terraces at the roof to open to nature. Roof top terraces are stepping down at the south to allow more direct sunlight to reach the north part of the tower and the adjacent residential towers. The stepping terraces will become the sky garden for the residents to breath and enjoy.