Safdie Architects’ Shanghai office tower features glass-enclosed corner garden that ascends the 35-story structure

Safdie Architects has announced the completion of LuOne Mixed-Use Complex—a business, retail, and entertainment development in the Luwan district of Shanghai, China.

The mixed-use complex consists of an eight-level retail galleria, which opened in 2018, and a 35-story office tower, which recently reached completion. Both the 140,000-sm (1.5 million-sf) retail galleria and the 45,000-sm (484,000-sf) office tower are organized around atrium gardens intended to offer visitors and workers an urban oasis in the heart of the city. 

Located on the site’s northeast corner, the office building integrates with the retail program at each level of the galleria, including the publicly accessible, landscaped roof terrace. The office tower’s southwest edge features a glass-enclosed corner garden that ascends the 160-m building—creating the appearance of greenery climbing the entire 35-story tower. Seven vertically stacked gardens, each four stories high, incorporate specimen trees, mature shrubs, and vegetation in ceiling-mounted planters.

“LuOne answers the pressing need for connection to nature and a place of community within Shanghai’s urban core,” Christopher Mulvey, senior partner, Safdie Architects, said in a statement.

The retail podium includes three sections surrounding a triangular atrium garden in the center. Above the atrium, a large toroidal dome skylight emerges from a central stem supported on the third level. Linear skylights radiate out from the dome, bringing daylight to the lowest levels, two stories below street level.

On the Building Team:
Client: CapitaMalls Asia 
Design architect: Safdie Architects 
Executive architect: SIADR (Shanghai Institute of Architectural Design & Research Co., Ltd.)
Structural engineer, MEP engineer, and LEED environmental engineer: Arup 
Landscape architect: Coen + Partners, USA 
Landscape design institute: Ager Group, Beijing 
Interior designer: Shanghai Jieyu Architecture Design Co., Ltd. (office interiors), AGC Design Ltd. (retail galleria) 
Lighting consultant: Brandston Partnership
Façade engineer: Schmidlin
General contractor: China Construction First Bureau Company Limited

Here is the full press release from Safdie Architects:
Safdie Architects announces the completion of LuOne Mixed-Use Complex, an integrated hub for dynamic businesses, retail, and entertainment in the historic Luwan district of Shanghai. Both the eight-level retail galleria and a 35-story office tower are organized around atrium gardens that provide visitors and workers with a serene destination in the heart of the city. The 140,000-square-meter (1.5M-square-foot) retail galleria has thrived since it opened in 2018. With the completion of the approximately 45,000-square-meter (484,000-square-foot) office tower, the original vision is fully realized in this vibrant and programmatically diverse project.

Located on the northeast corner of the site, the office building integrates with the retail program at each level of the retail galleria including the publicly accessible landscaped roof terrace. Along the southwest edge of the office tower, a glass-enclosed “corner garden” ascends the 160-meter building. Seven gardens, each four stories in height and stacked vertically, incorporate specimen trees, mature shrubs, and vegetation cascading from ceiling-mounted planters, which create the appearance of greenery climbing the entirety of the 35-story tower.

“LuOne answers the pressing need for connection to nature and a place of community within Shanghai’s urban core. Amidst the density of the historic Luwan district and its busy boulevards, the galleria atrium and office corner gardens offer occupants a place for respite in the heart of Shanghai,” said Christopher Mulvey, the Senior Partner of Safdie Architects who relocated to China in 2011 to establish the firm’s presence and oversee the development of active projects in the region.

The eight-story retail podium is an extroverted space that organizes shops along three gallerias, which connect surrounding streets through the building and define a triangular atrium garden in the center. In the tradition of celebrated conservatory gardens, the atrium is enclosed by a grand toroidal dome skylight that springs from a central stem support on the third level. Linear skylights radiate out from the dome and bring daylight into the lowest levels of the gallerias, two stories below the street.

A two-story bronze colonnade lines the retail podium and frames each of the main galleria entrances. Shops at street-level also open onto the sidewalk, which activates the building edge and animates the public realm. The upper stories are adorned with a kinetic art installation by Ned Kahn, an American artist known for large-scale interventions that encourage observation of natural phenomena. The work consists of hundreds of thousands of anodized metal panels that swing on hidden horizontal rods in response to the breeze.

LuOne is Safdie Architects’ fourth completed project with CapitaLand, following Raffles City mixed-use development in Chongqing, China (2020), and, in Singapore, Jewel Changi Airport (2019) and SkyHabitat residential towers (2016).