The mixed-use development creates a new district with multi-level public green space and a design informed by the application of computational tools.
Hangzhou, China – June 30, 2026 – KPF is pleased to announce the completion of Westlake 66, a new mixed-use development in the heart of Hangzhou. Situated between the city’s two defining landmarks—West Lake, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and the historic Grand Canal—Westlake 66 is a new model for urban connectivity, landscape-driven design, and computationally informed architecture. Developed by Hang Lung Properties, the new destination brings together five office towers, the Mandarin Oriental Hangzhou, retail, a university building, and public space across 194,400 square meters (over 2 million square feet), establishing a new civic heart for one of China’s most dynamic cities.
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Nature and the Public Realm
Few cities embody Chinese heritage and innovation as comprehensively as Hangzhou. A major center of research and development today, the city is home to several leading technology companies as well as major cultural sites, such as the West Lake. An internationally recognized symbol of both the country and of Hangzhou, much of West Lake dates to the 7th-century Tang Dynasty and is emblematic of China’s landscape tradition where layered gardens, temples, pagodas, pavilions, and causeways are arranged to compose harmonious views.
“Westlake 66 reimagines Hangzhou’s urban relationship between building and landscape, where architecture itself is envisioned as an urban park,” says Jeff Kenoff FAIA, KPF Design Principal. “The project’s design embraced the relative seclusion of its site as an opportunity to carve a central greenway through the district, establishing a landscaped connection between West Lake and the Grand Canal while creating an entirely new, multi-level public realm within the city. The intervention redirects pedestrian activity through a sequence of gardens, terraces, retail streets, hospitality venues, and elevated public spaces, transforming a formerly disconnected block into an active urban destination.”
The conceptual and physical heart of Westlake 66 is the Sky Park, a 400-meter-long landscaped pathway that serves as both connective infrastructure between the development’s various programs as well as a civic destination. Extending across the development, the Sky Park functions as a new layer of the city, lifting public life above the podium while creating panoramic connections to Hangzhou’s surrounding mountains and cultural landmarks.
Westlake 66’s design concept was inspired by Huang Gongwang’s celebrated painting “Dwelling in the Fuchun Mountains” from the 14th century. Beyond a reference to Hangzhou’s natural beauty, the artwork informed the project’s approach to scale, layering, terracing, and the relationship between the landscape and the individual. Rather than conceiving the development as a collection of towers, the design team envisioned an urban valley. Building heights are stepped to bring daylight deep into the site, while the Sky Park and terraces allow visitors to ascend through the architecture, creating a porous composition that echoes the mountain landscapes surrounding West Lake.
Advanced Computational Strategies
While Westlake 66’s design inspiration is rooted in culture and place, its realization was enabled by advanced computational modeling and data-driven design.
“We used computational modeling tools to generate and evaluate thousands of massing options, each analyzed against a range of competing objectives, including solar exposure, shadow impacts, daylight access, retail visibility, and views,” says Luc Wilson, KPF Global Director of Design Technology. “The Sky Park emerged from that process as the highest-performing connective strategy.”
Going beyond project scope, site analysis, and pure intuition, performance metrics became active design drivers. Building locations, forms, terraces, heights, floor plates, orientations, and, especially, façades were continuously refined through simulation to maximize daylight penetration, improve visibility, reduce shadow impacts, and strengthen urban connectivity.
One of Westlake 66’s defining architectural elements is the Urban Cell Wall, a unique façade system at the podium level that establishes continuity across the development’s varied programs while creating a human-scaled interface between architecture and city.
“We wanted to create an unprecedented urban façade strategy that would transform pedestrian connectivity across multiple city blocks, and respond to varying urban forces,” says Kenoff.
Unlike conventional façades designed around fixed program requirements, the Urban Cell Wall is an adaptive system capable of responding to future change. Individual cells can accommodate evolving uses and leasing conditions while maintaining the overall identity of the project. The façade responds simultaneously to changing program requirements, urban visibility conditions, and environmental performance objectives, creating an exponential number of different conditions. Through computational analysis, these variables were rationalized into a modular system capable of addressing all performance requirements while remaining practical to fabricate and construct. The result is a three-part interchangeable assembly made up of only 21 unique and substitutable components:
- Outer Shell: Prefabricated aluminum available in seven aperture sizes, ranging from fully open to fully closed, are used to establish the primary modules of the Urban Cell Wall system.
- Terra-Cotta Insert: An inner ceramic ring reflects Hangzhou’s craft heritage and is glazed in five vibrant colors that form a gradient serving as an orientation device for pedestrian traffic.
- Infill Panel: Three types of infill panels—vision glass, shadowbox, storefront, and ventilation louvers—respond to the programmatic needs of interior space.
“The Cell Wall terra cotta posed one of the greatest challenges on the project: We had to produce a technically and aesthetically high-level craft over a massive scale—3,400 cells of 8–10 pieces of terra cotta each,” says Eric Engdahl AIA, KPF Associate Principal and Senior Technical Designer.
Drawing inspiration from the masonry patterns of Lingyin Temple, nearby historic bridges, and the stone walls of West Lake, the façade is lined with glazed terra cotta in various tones drawn from Hangzhou’s heritage. Five custom colors create a subtle gradient that shifts throughout the site and reinforces the connection to local craft traditions.
“The façade echoes the organic textures and colors of the surroundings, weaving nature into the city,” explains Minho Jeon AIA, KPF Senior Associate Principal and Senior Designer.
Sustainability and Performance
Iterative performance simulations optimized the towers’ façade strategies for daylight, views, shading, and energy efficiency. The result is a development where environmental performance, occupant comfort, and architectural expression are deeply interconnected. Computational systems informed performance and adaptability, while materiality and craft rooted the project in the cultural identity of Hangzhou.
Tower 1 and 2 are certified LEED Platinum, while the retail podium, and towers 3 through 6, including the hotel, are certified LEED Gold. The entire project has received China Green Building 3-Star, BREEAM Excellent, and WELL Platinum certifications.
Team Credits
Design Principal: Jeffrey Kenoff FAIA
Managing Principals: Peter Gross AIA, Andrew Cleary AIA
Managing Director: Yee Tak Lau AIA
Senior Designer: Minho Jeon AIA
Senior Designer (Urban Cell Wall): Wenxin Chen AIA
Senior Designers (Competition): Katsunori Shigemi AIA, Rodney Bell AIA
Senior Technical Designers: Eric Engdahl AIA, Ronald Wong
Project Team: Frankie Au, Edwin Baruch, Elie Boutros, Yijie Hu, Tait Kaplan, Jim Lau, Dan Li, Jingwen Li, Fei Mui, Alana Tam, Milo Wan, Weining Zhong
