Shanghai Suhe MixC World / Kokaistudios

Architects: Kokaistudios
Area: 60000 m²
Year: 2022
Photographs: Terrence Zhang
Chief Architects: Andrea Destefanis, Filippo Gabbiani
Architecture Design Director: Wei Li
Design Team: Zhantao Qin, Eva Maria Paz Taibo, Yoko Zhang, Bohua Guan, Anna-Maria Austerweil, Jingjing Jiang, Xiang Ding, Hiro Wang, Dongyin Li, Wanli Xu, Pablo Zhao, Zoe Cheng, Xinlu Jiang, Pietro Peyron
Interior Design Director: Rake Wang
Interior Design: Sara Zhang, Qing Chang, Chenyu Huang, Ru Chen, Jiaqi Li, Shuhao Chen
Text: Frances Arnold
MEP Consultant: Meinhardt Shanghai Ltd., Promising Engineering and Consulting (Shanghai) Co., Ltd
Structural Consultant: Arup
Facade Consultant: RFR
Landscape Design: Lab D+H
Landscape Drawing: SLADI
Lighting Consultant: Arup
Art Consultant: AllRightsReserved. Limited
Exhibit Design: UCCA Edge
Signage Consultant: GK Shanghai
Local Design Institute: ECADI
Client: CR Land, Shun Tak Holdings
City: Shanghai
Country: China

Shanghai Suhe MixC World, designed by Kokaistudios, transforms commercial space along Suzhou Creek into an “urban valley”, integrating public green land, cultural heritage, and subterranean retail. Originally planned as an underground shopping mall, it evolved into a 42,000 m² mixed-use development, featuring restored landmarks like Shenyu Li and Thean Hou Temple, alongside a 42-story tower by Foster + Partners. The design enhances waterfront accessibility and reconnects the northern Suzhou Riverbank, merging commerce with nature through stepped slopes and organic-shaped entrances that integrate with the landscape. A four-story gateway building and a footbridge over Fujian North Road provide key access points, while art installations like Family Orchestra and Up We Go! visually link aboveground green spaces with the subterranean mall. The commercial area incorporates elements of traditional lilong houses, blending glass roof windows and wooden rafters to create a dialogue between heritage and modern retail. Prioritizing public green space, the project fosters urban recreation and sustainability while balancing commercial viability and infrastructure through collaboration with government agencies, planners, and developers.

Located along Shanghai’s Suzhou Creek, Shanghai Suhe MixC World seamlessly connects the city’s past, present, and future. The project was conceived as a way to redefine commercial spaces, ensuring better integration with the urban environment. The resulting “urban valley” introduces a new public space, setting a benchmark for Shanghai’s urban development. In 2016, Kokaistudios was invited to participate in a competition for an underground shopping mall within Suhe Creek Green Land. Rather than a conventional mall, the design proposed a riverside green space incorporating cultural and leisure facilities alongside a subterranean commercial area. Property developer CRLand favored Kokaistudios’ vision, where the valley floor functions as a commercial space that naturally integrates with the surrounding green land through a series of stepped slopes.

Shanghai Suhe MixC World spans 42,000 square meters of urban green space. In accordance with planning and design conditions, the site includes several above-ground structures, such as the renovated and restored Shenyu Li lilong group and Shanghai’s only official Thean Hou Temple. A newly planned four-story gateway building in the northeast corner and a 42-story tower by Foster + Partners, the tallest landmark in the area, define the eastern boundary of the development. The project aligns with the local government’s vision for the Suhe Creek area, aiming to reconnect both sides of the Suzhou River and revitalize its northern bank, a historically significant site reflecting Shanghai’s past, present, and future. Kokaistudios’ design approach focuses on integrating waterfront and hinterland functions, enhancing the complexity and intensity of land use along the riverfront while reinforcing its urban connectivity.

Adopting a holistic approach, Kokaistudios envisioned the project as an urban valley, with the commercial space nestled within and its sides forming stepped access points. In addition to the new four-story gateway building, the defining feature of the project is the aboveground green land, serving as a vibrant public space for both residents and visitors, introducing greenery and new opportunities to a previously overlooked area of Shanghai. The physical connection between the public green space and commercial area is emphasized through six overground openings, designed to seamlessly integrate with the ground-level landscape. Their organic-shaped curves incorporate planted steps, creating a fluid transition between the surface and subterranean levels, effectively blurring the distinction between the two.

The pebble-shaped openings serve as entrances to the underground commercial space, positioned on either side of the bisecting road. These openings are partially planted, with seating areas and coffee shops along their pathways, evoking the gentle slopes of a valley or stepped tea fields. Equipped with escalators for accessibility, these entrances seamlessly blend into the landscape, with only their canopies visible from the green land above. Another main entrance is through the new four-story commercial building, located adjacent to the office tower, which aesthetically unifies the site’s latest development phases through material continuity. A new footbridge spanning Fujian North Road physically connects both halves of the site, offering panoramic views of the Suzhou River, making it an appealing vista point for tourists. This bridge also functions as a key access point to the underground mall, featuring an elevator that leads directly to the second basement level, while an adjacent open spiral staircase guides shoppers through the retail space.

Further reinforcing the connection between the green land and subterranean commercial space, two art installations by Hong Kong-based creative studio AllRightsReserved and German artist collective Inges Idee establish a visual and conceptual link. Family Orchestra features two cartoon elephants gazing at each other, symbolizing the relationship between the surface and underground levels. Their curved bodies, resembling a trumpet and tuba, mirror the organic shapes of the entrances. Similarly, Up We Go! portrays a child mid-stride, stepping through the landscape and emerging from one of the green land’s openings. The character’s elongated legs span both basement levels, extending upward onto the terraced slope, further emphasizing the seamless transition between above and below.

Within the mall, two enclosed areas have been carefully designed to establish a physical and visual connection with the site’s cultural heritage, specifically Shenyu Li and Thean Hou Temple. The commercial space directly below is seamlessly integrated with the historic structures at key points, including the entrance, central axis, and underground public atrium. The interior design team at Kokaistudios drew inspiration from traditional lilong houses, incorporating these elements into the design. The use of glass roof windows and a lightweight wooden rafter ceiling evokes a sense of historical continuity, bridging past and present. Conceived as “a dialogue between commerce and heritage,” the design ensures that the conservation buildings and commercial spaces are unified through spatial technology, preserving cultural authenticity while enhancing the public experience.

Shanghai Suhe MixC World stands as one of Kokaistudios’ most innovative retail developments, designed as a public space for recreation and relaxation. As the transplanted trees mature, they will provide shade and comfort for visitors, enhancing the usability of the green land. In a high-density city like Shanghai, where many residents lack private gardens, such urban green spaces are essential for recreation, well-being, and environmental sustainability. The concept of “shared vitality and win-win value” between the green land and commercial areas is the result of collaborative efforts among designers, government agencies (including landscape, planning, cultural protection, and fire departments), developers, commercial operators, and engineers. The scale and shape of the urban valley were determined through rational calculations and dynamic balancing of multiple elements, ensuring high-quality public space while minimizing disruptions from urban infrastructure, utilities, and evacuation routes. As post-pandemic cities increasingly prioritize green, high-quality spaces, projects like Shanghai Suhe MixC World play a key role in driving future urban economic growth.

The “Urban Valley” concept in Shanghai Suhe MixC World emerged in response to the demand for urban renewal. To address the neighborhood’s lack of green space, decision-makers took a forward-thinking approach, integrating commercial functions with public green land within this multi-layered development. Through the collaborative efforts of the government and developer, the site successfully accommodates urban infrastructure, a metro transportation center, preserved cultural heritage, an office tower, public green land, and commercial space, all realized through a unified design and construction strategy. This holistic approach not only enhances the site itself but also contributes to the comprehensive regeneration of surrounding areas. Kokaistudios is honored to have played a key role in shaping the design-driven transformation of this landmark project.