Xiangyang, China
“We envisioned Joy Town as a place where there are always unexpected visual sensory experiences. Waterscape and streets create a traditionally-inspired village streetscape, and a three-dimensional design plan allows you to step onto rooftops and explore unpaved paths. We wanted to allow people to experience the lost city of Xiangyang through its distinct environmental elements.” — Keven Wang, Global Design Director of Aedas.
Combining the cultural and historical value of Xiangyang’s ancient piers, Aedas architects create a modern mixed-use complex that echoes the traditional lifestyle and would be an immersive festive space for both citizens and visitors with a unique and cultural Xiangyang experience.
The design of this project has been awarded a 2021 International Architecture Award by The Chicago Athenaeum: Museum of Architecture and Design and The European Centre for Architecture Art Design and Urban Studies.
Being an important port city on the Yangtze river, Xiangyang has seen a long history of the close relationship between water and land, river and village.
Combining the cultural and historical value of Xiangyang’s ancient piers, the development aims to create an immersive festive space.
Surrounded by residential and hospitality spaces, as well as transportation networks and the waterfront, the project’s site is divided by a major traffic artery.
The northern plot will encompass courtyard offices, commercial and cultural space, which is due to be developed first, and the southern plot will hold luxury hotels, lavish clubhouses and dining space, and other upmarket facilities, to be built second.
Joy Town is envisioned as a place where there are always unexpected visual sensory experiences.
Waterscape and streets create a traditionally-inspired village streetscape, and a three-dimensional design plan allows you to step onto rooftops and explore unpaved paths, allowing people to experience the lost city of Xiangyang through its distinct environmental elements.
The design, based on material, shape, and layout, generates a particular visual result.
Merging traditional and contemporary building materials and techniques, the facade produces a dramatic effect.
Moreover, inspired by the silhouette of Xiangyang’s traditional sloping houses, slanted frames are incorporated into the building’s facade as the entrance to retail stores, commercial displays, and terraces.
The abstract sloping roofs create a staggering visual effect that unifies the overall structure.
The project is aimed to create a cultural-sensitive complex inspired by the local context while responding to the waterscape around the site.
Capturing the traditional town through visual language, spatial scale, and spatial relationship, Aedas created a development that reinterprets streets and alleyways.
The main street is situated on the west to exploit the wider and open view, while a second narrower street is situated on the east.
The lower floor will comprise food and snack stalls while the second floor will connect to the main street and commercial and office space on the northerly through a connecting corridor.
Meanwhile, the waterfront street is a modern reinterpretation of the old villages of Xiangyang.
Project: Xiangyang OCT Cultural and Tourism Area Joy Town
Architects: Aedas
Client: Overseas Chinese Town
Photographers: Aedas
