Stanica Nivy
Europe
View Project
Hangzhou Joy City
- Location
- Hangzhou, China
- Client
- Grand Joy Holdings Group
- Services
- Architecture, Masterplanning
- Sector
- Mixed Use, Residential, Retail, Workplace
Canal-side urban regeneration for a new generation
Hangzhou Joy City opened in 2018 on the banks of the Yuhangtang River in Hangzhou’s Gongshu district, regenerating a former industrial cluster into a 460,000m2 mixed-use destination for the city. The development comprises a 150,000m2 shopping centre, a 40,000m2 retail street, three Grade-A office buildings, one apartment tower and the adjacent Hangzhou Canal Art Center, a 14,000m2 arts complex housed in a converted thermal power plant on the same site. Benoy’s scope encompassed masterplanning, architecture, retail planning and concept design for the main interior atrium, which features an escalator spanning five levels
Dates2014-2018
Size
460,000m2
The design takes the traditional public square as its organising concept, a space that integrates buildings and city, public realm and private use. A central plaza anchors the development, drawing in river views from the Yuhangtang waterfront and connecting the commercial programme to the life of the street. Dining outlets are arranged around the plaza perimeter, while an LED media wall gives the complex a strong visual identity oriented towards an 18- to 35-year-old audience. On opening day, more than 90% of tenants were trading across 300 brands.
The 50-metre-high atrium features stepped terraces and integrated greening, with a sunken water square transformed into an open central park. Pocket parks along the building’s internal routes blur the boundary between commercial space and the natural landscape, drawing on Hangzhou’s distinctive lake and mountain character.
Connecting to the district
The Canal Art Center extends the project’s reach into the cultural life of the Gongshu district, part of a wider government programme with 108 cultural development projects planned for the area. Together, the two components demonstrate how a commercial brief can anchor a broader programme of urban regeneration, using the canal-side location and the site’s industrial memory as design assets rather than constraints.
Benoy adopted a “grey space” architectural concept for the main building, using plain concrete, weather-resistant steel plates, wood and metal mesh to establish a neutral, restrained palette that references the industrial past while expressing a contemporary simplicity. The massing is deliberately broken down, courtyards, corridors and semi-open spaces dissolve the boundary between indoor and outdoor, allowing the building to become a canvas for the activity within and around it.
Environmental performance
The office buildings hold LEED Gold pre-certification, with annual energy consumption 20% below the industry average. An energy performance contracting model optimises air conditioning, lighting and kitchen exhaust systems across the development, saving approximately 2.1 million kWh of electricity annually and achieving a comprehensive energy saving rate of 35.8%.
The building envelope uses NBK® ceramic panels on the north and west façades of the shopping mall, which are breathable, sound-insulating and dry-hung, alongside a Low-E insulating glass curtain wall for the office buildings. A complete rainwater collection system achieves 40% annual water-saving efficiency, which is integrated with the landscape to reduce waste across the site. BIM technology was applied throughout to resolve complex construction challenges and minimise material waste. The development has over 15% green cover, supported by a 500m² office roof garden, rest balconies and a vertical greening system.
Qin Pang
Director, Head of Shanghai Studio
Through spatial design, we have made Hangzhou Joy City a place where architecture and the city, as well as commercial and public life, are fully integrated. It revitalises the industrial heritage along the Yuhangtang River while creating a truly vibrant, warm urban heart for the district.
