This project located at the corner of the Lian Yue Road in the Siming District, Xiamen. The current site condition is a commercial shopping mall with a sunken outdoor plaza. Throughout the renovation, client tend to increase the utilization of the ground floor plaza, enhance the commercial value of the building and the city attraction by assimilating the characteristics of Xiamen and Huawei.

Referring to the ‘sea and water’ elements of Xiamen island and communication element of Huawei which contain the similar characteristics - water waves and the hertz signal wave, HEYi decided to use ‘ripple & wave’ as the main design by intersecting the horizontal commercial function movement with the vertical technology exhibition to create the plaza.

Landscape

Taking ‘water’ element as the design idea for landscape, our team tend to promote different sensory experience by linking a series of activities within the plaza area. Besides fulfilling the function of the space, we also consider about the characteristics of Xiamen (mountain, sea, rocks, islands etc) by expressing them in a modern way.

Building

Using the least amount of structure support, we would like to achieve the interesting plaza effect in a relaxing and simple way，or so called deduction rather than addition in architecture. Thus, the idea of a big, ring-shaped canopy is being proposed in order to enhance the sense of space, provide a shading for activities and maximize the activity space on the ground level.

Iconic - Reflective material was used for the ring-shaped canopy to increase the visibility from the plan view or human eye level. Furthermore, the reflection of the surrounding and the sky cause the removal of the mass from visual and extend the vertical dimension, providing an interesting node for the plaza by increasing the interaction.

Fluidity - The canopy is supported by thin stainless steels, providing more plaza area for citizens and maintain the human flow.

Framing - The ring-shaped canopy frames the sky and creates an aggregate platform at the middle of the plaza, beneficial to city activity in order to assemble the crowd.