After 10 years, Kohn Pedersen Fox's Riverside 66 in Tianjin, China successfully reached completion as scheduled and officially opened to the public on September 26. The grand opening also marked the completion of the final phase of the main pedestrian He Ping Lu boulevard, which aims to become the centerpiece of the developing Heping commercial district.

Read on for more about the building's design.

The 350-meter commercial megastructure is hard to miss at street level. The structure's curved façade converges with the opposing south façade to create a six-story building suitable for the Heping District's smaller scale context. Its "super shell" is claimed to be one of the region's longest single structures, built with 22 seven-story-tall concrete ribs and over 10,000 glass panels. In a statement, KPF Design Principal James von Klemperer describes the structural frame as "what it must be to see a whale skeleton from the inside. Herman Melville would be inspired.”

Inside, the structure encompasses 1.4 million square feet and is equipped with a flexible retail program and frequent active entries along the streets. With the structure's interior, KPF wanted to create a modernized version of a traditional merchant setting.

The grand atrium at the center of the structure operates as both a public plaza and a vertical concourse to the building’s upper sky street as it divides the internal shell, providing a direct link between the Hai He River and He Ping Lu. The sky street rearranges the typical retail model by placing the most popular floor at the very top of the building, encouraging the user to fully experience the multi-level structure. Jeffrey Kenoff, Director and Senior Designer at KPF, adds, "It definitely has the advantage of hyper flexibility and a unique ability to transform itself with current market needs and aspirations."

According to KPF, Riverside 66 was designed to engage with its dynamic surroundings and become an integrated 'constituent of the urban traffic.' Kenoff adds, 'The project aims to activate the regenerated riverfront as it rethinks the role of China’s urban market.'"

Project credits

KPF Project Team and Contributors: Jeffrey A. Kenoff, Audrey Choi, Edwin Lau, Peter Gross, Ciara Seymour, Gary Stluka, Benjamin Albury; Bernard Chang; Hanna Chang; Saera Park; Shang Chen; Sarah Smith; James Kehl; Sandra Choy; Thomas  Coldefy; Javier Galindo; Onur Gun; Heejin Kim; Yoojung Kim; Ming Leung; Luis Llull; Manon Pare; Charles Portelli; Samuel Schmitz; James Siow; Kristin Speth; Donald Springer; Kyle Steinfeld; Scott Wilson, James von Klemperer, Paul Katz 

Associated Firms: Tianjin Architects & Consulting Engineers (TACE); Local Design Institute; P&T International, Associate Architect; Benoy, Retail Consultant; Arup, Structural; Parsons Brinckerhoff, MEP; ALT Cladding, Curtain wall; MVA,Traffic; ADI, Landscape; BPI, Lighting; Rider Levett Bucknall, Cost

All images courtesy of Kohn Pedersen Fox.

Previously: Construction Update: Kohn Pedersen Fox's Riverside 66 in Tianjin, China

Click the thumbnails below to see renderings and diagrams.