The KPF Principal shares the ideas behind the project’s landscape-driven design that “couldn’t exist anywhere else.”
“Rather than thinking about ‘architecture as building’, it was more about ‘architecture as landscape,’” Jeff noted to Post Magazine, an imprint of the South China Morning Post. Sited between West Lake, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and the historic Grand Canal, Westlake 66 draws on Hangzhou’s centuries-old landscape tradition—to create a new district with multi-level public green space and a design informed by computational analysis.
The project’s design—from its stepped towers to its terra cotta–clad Urban Cell Wall—was shaped by a computationally informed approach that balanced daylight, views, and craft heritage. Post Magazine highlighted how Westlake 66 reflects Hangzhou’s dual identity as both a historic cultural capital and a fast-growing tech hub, positioning the project as a new civic heart for the city.
