On September 27, the retail portions of both KPF projects opened to the public, adding two new pedestrian-friendly and human-scaled shopping experiences to the fabric of Shanghai.
Huamu Lot 10, The Summit, a new cultural hub for Century Park, boasts both intimate and bustling public spaces infused with rich local program activity. Integrated with Shanghai’s newest museum, the project is embedded in the daily life of the city and an ideal location for ground-level retail offerings. The design repositions all traffic to an outer loop, liberating an inner ring for a new public plaza and event space connecting the inward-facing storefronts with a central amphitheatre. “We are thrilled to see the success for Huamu Lot 10’s new retail, which harmonizes with and activates a grand new public space, amphitheater, and reinvigorated riverfront all within this cultural district,” says KPF Design Principal Jeff Kenoff. “These public spaces stitch together culture and commerce, becoming a new urban paradigm for Century Park and the city.”
Fusion New Bund is a mixed-use neighborhood along Shanghai’s Huangpu River comprising four interconnected office villages with a commercial urban spine and a luxury hotel. The four distinct parcels are defined and joined via a low-rise x-shaped building — the urban bridge — that provides an overall identity for the neighborhood. The main retail street, running along two wings of this expansive structure, cultivates an intimate pedestrian-, cycling-, and pet-friendly environment reminiscent of historic downtowns around the world. “The New Bund Square City project proposes a new paradigm in low-rise urban design,” says KPF Design Principal Josh Chaiken. “It is distinguished by a singular groundscraper building configured roughly as a cruciform in plan which defines four urban quadrants, each containing a distinctive offering of boutique office buildings. The groundscraper itself comprises both office space and a Kimpton Hotel and can be traversed through its second level making neighborhood connections north-south and east-west. The groundscraper provides pedestrians with multilevel connectivity while defining four distinct human-scaled quadrants.” The development’s retail opening marks the commercial debut of this large-scale project, unlocking access to the new district for all city occupants.