Safdie Architects has shared photos of their latest contribution to Shanghai's Luwan district, the new LuOne Mixed-Use Complex, after its construction was completed in the past year.

Featuring an eight-story bronze colonnade-lined retail component and a 35-story office tower, the project “answers the pressing need for connection to nature and a place of community within Shanghai’s urban core,” in the words of Senior Partner Christopher Mulvey.

Accordingly, the tower’s southwestern edge includes a glass-enclosed “corner garden” running vertically with a series of seven four-story garden spaces stacked to create the appearance of plant life ascending or “climbing” the length of its facade.

The 484,000-square-foot tower was designed to complete the program, which began with the construction of the 1.5 million-square-foot retail galleria in 2018. A triangular glass atrium takes shape at the center of the composition, enclosed by a grand toroidal dome skylight supported by a single third-level column. 

Activations of the public realm are encouraged by opening the shops to the sidewalk at the street level, and a kinetic art installation by American Ned Kahn invites users to observations of wind patterns. Mulvey, who led the firm's 2011 Shanghai office launch, added finally that it offers "a place for respite in the heart of Shanghai." 

This is Safdie Architects’ fourth completed project for client and developer CapitaLand, following the Raffles City mixed-use development in Chongqing, China, and two projects in Singapore (the Jewel Changi Airport and SkyHabitat residential towers from 2016). 

The firm also recently completed its Surbana Jurong Campus project there and will soon author a new programmatic expansion of the iconic Marina Bay Sands hotel and resort for the end of 2029.