Latitude Studio Designs “Future Mall” Exhibition Space in Beijing

Competition: Daxing Shopping Mall Showroom
Award: First Place
Architects: Latitude Studio
Location: Beijing, China
Architect In Charge: Manuel Zornoza
Design Team: Amos Hu, Frank Zhan, Jorge Cortes de Castro, Leo Li, Liu Bo, Lu Xiao, Phyo Yanadar Oo, Yiye Lin
Project Manager: Lihui Sim
Area: 1000.0 sqm
Year: 2014

Latitude Studio, based in Barcelona and Beijing, have unveiled designs for a showroom exhibition centre in China’s capital city. Integral to the design is how visitors circulate and interact with the spaces centred around the “future shopping mall”. Including an auditorium, model spaces and views onto an area which is expected to see enormous retail development, the building’s central atrium and “thematic sightseeing walk” offer a unique journey for the visitor.

This journey begins “with the reception of the guest; continues through an auditorium; display areas with 1:1 scale mock-ups; resting zone and finishes with the outlook of the future shopping mall building next by from the highest terrace.” The first floor contains “meeting rooms, office space and an atrium surrounded by a retail façade”, working as an interpretation of the common areas of the future shopping mall.

Within the atrium is “a spiral staircase which goes up the building following a thematic sightseeing walk.” The auditorium, located on the second floor, is accompanied “by a dark room with a physical model of the future shopping mall.” “The terrace in the second floor works as a mock-up of the future landscape area and main entrance to the mall, known as the sunken plaza. Before going up to the third floor, the visitor also finds a double-height retail facade mock-up facing the triple-height atrium.” The building’s dynamic façade “gives a sense of constant movement to the building, reflecting the commercial activity that will take place in the area.”