Heatherwick Studio has announced their design for a new shopping center in Xi’an, China, they say will evoke the heritage of ceramics and other artistic creations endemic to the area with a completion date set for 2024.

Offering users a “sensory experience to challenge the emotional and aesthetic deprivation of online shopping,” the plan for the 1.23 million-square-foot district calls for a network of social spaces and interlocking program of mixed-scale buildings scattered throughout.

The design is broken down into three scales, appearing first as a green space with tapering rooflines inspired by surrounding local temples when viewed from a distance. At the street level, it will utilize a series of interlinked terraces and other landscaped spaces to offer enhanced pedestrianism and vistas of the city. 

The promised “sensory experience” is enacted most at the final human scale, and buildings are finished in locally-made patterned ceramic paneling in homage to the tradition that produced the country’s treasured Terracotta Army. 

Mat Cash, a group leader and partner at Heatherwick Studio, said: “This new district in Xi’an explores how we can create variety and a sense of discovery and delight within a new large-scale urban development. Using natural materials, stepped terraces, and an enveloping landscape, we can create a city within a city merging retail, residential, office, cultural, and leisure uses into one distinct place.”

Construction is underway now. The district’s announcement comes just five months after the unveiling of the new ‘Orbit’ exhibition hall in Shanghai. Founder Thomas Heatherwick is currently on tour promoting his new book, which incorporates theories about consumerism and users’ perspectives. The firm is also looking to complete its larger Toranomon-Azabudai mixed-use shopping district in Tokyo by the end of the year.