The highlight of cities updating their zoning guidelines to recognize and accommodate a kinder, more gentle environment for people and moving away from a previous generation’s ideas that the automobile was the mechanism by which guidelines were made and our cities were crafted,  is that new forms can be established to accommodate those needs. 

The Mirador project, designed for Beijing-based Create World Development, sets a new standard for residential/mixed-use development in the region, and establishes itself apart from other projects in the surrounding downtown district in several key ways -  establishing a generous set back from the street edge, highlighting the project’s retail base and activating the street with circulation for pedestrians; by creating a unique façade for an otherwise normal building envelope with texture, material and form; creating duplex apartments at the project’s top floors to offset the building’s profile and establish generous balconies. The project’s 162 residential units, and a floor of commercial office space sit atop 2 floors of retail on a prominent corner in the city’s retail district.