Construction is underway on Bihailou Art Village, a 6,500m2 cultural and commercial complex in Shenzhen designed by MVRDV, a Netherlands-based architecture and urban design practice.
Located in Shatoujiao, close to the Shenzhen-Hong Kong border, the building comprises a multicoloured stack of irregular volumes. It will contain a performance theatre, the Fish Lantern Museum, shops, restaurants, public circulation routes, and roof terraces.
The project applies MVRDV’s Vertical Village concept to a cultural and retail complex. Developed with The Why Factory, a research institute studying the future of cities, in 2011 and published as a book in 2012, the concept explored how the density of urban development could be combined with the individuality and smaller scale of village buildings.
Separate volumes accommodate different uses
The building’s programme is divided among individual volumes that MVRDV describes as “houses”. Each has its own form, colour, material, and entrance.
A large, double-height space will contain the multifunctional theatre. Retractable seating will allow it to be converted into an exhibition hall, while a floor-to-ceiling window facing the neighbouring plaza will create a visual connection between the interior and public space.
Shops and restaurants will occupy smaller blocks elsewhere in the stack. The Fish Lantern Museum will focus on Shatoujiao’s distinctive cultural heritage.
The separate entrances will allow the museum, theatre, shops, and restaurants to choose their own opening hours. These functions can therefore operate independently while sharing the same circulation system.
Design draws on Shatoujiao and the former restaurant
The smaller volumes respond to the scale and visual variety of buildings in Shatoujiao. Their colours, materials, and forms also refer to the former Bihailou restaurant, a well-known local venue that previously occupied the site.
The fragmented arrangement replaces a single large building volume with a collection of differently sized blocks. Gaps between the volumes open views through the complex, while roof terraces provide publicly accessible outdoor space at several levels.
Bihailou Art Village will stand within an existing plaza at the centre of the neighbourhood. At ground level, projecting upper volumes form covered areas where people can shelter from sun and rain.
The landscape design by Turen Landscape Consultants will connect the building’s immediate surroundings with the existing plaza.
Public routes pass through the stack
Stairs, escalators, ramps, and gangways will run through the centre of the building, linking its individual volumes and terraces. The circulation areas are planned to remain permanently accessible, including outside the opening hours of the cultural and commercial venues.
Gaps between the blocks will provide views of the surrounding area as visitors move upwards. The routes will eventually reach roof terraces overlooking the mountains, Shenzhen’s cityscape, and the bay.
Shenzhen Shatoujiao Commercial Foreign Trade is the client. Wancheng Urban Design & Research and the Shenzhen branch of Ruihua Architectural Design Institute are coordinating the project, with Ruihua also responsible for the construction drawings. City Construction (Group) is the construction contractor.
