30 Sep 2022
CLOU architects proudly announce the release of the firm's third book: Social Space! Over 500 pages of project history show CLOU’s thoughts and practice of pushing the boundaries of architecture in the face of social change, new lifestyles, and technological innovation, as well as its unchanging mission: to design the best social spaces in the world. Within its four main chapters - Team, Studios, Calendar, and Work - the book takes readers through the development of CLOU’s philosophy.
We do social space
Social space is a place for people to gather and communicate, which is particularly important for enriching the public nature of commercial spaces and stimulating urban vitality. While the current advanced state of e-commerce provides consumer convenience, it can never replace a place where people meet face-to-face. In the post-pandemic era, social restrictions have increased people’s desire for social interaction, leading us to re-examine the importance of public social space. CLOU also believes that designing and utilizing social spaces is the key to revitalising commercial buildings in the future.
Between 2020 and early 2022, CLOU completed a series of cutting-edge projects that advance the firm's body of work for some of the most vibrant places in today’s world: retail and leisure destinations, large mixed-use complexes, and community hubs.
In Chengdu, the pixelated cubes of Unifun Tianfu enter new territory with their animated online-offline facades, while Wuhou’s Starry Street introduces new spatial combinations of work, living, and leisure spaces. In Wuhan’s Paradise Walk Jiangchen, CLOU was able to include overarching services for a fully inclusive design where architecture, facades, and full interior scope unite to tell a compelling story that resonates with the locale and its clientele.
In the north of China, Hohhot’s Capitamall Nuohemule delivers the first garden mall to Inner Mongolia with a revitalization of inactive spaces into a new environment that counteracts harsh climates with pleasant public interior landscapes.
In Beijing, CLOU was proud to see the prominent Beijing Huijing Towers renovation, a contemporization of the former LG towers on Chang’An Avenue, come to completion in spring, while Capitaland Wangjing mall in Chaoyang, R&F Gaoliying in Shunyi, and CIFI House in Fangshan are scheduled to open in 2023.
CLOU has uncovered new aspects of leisure and education. The Wuhan Snow Park, Wanning Riyuewan Surfing Town, and Vanke Shenzhen Longgang Sports Mall, for example, merge sports, entertainment, and retail for a comprehensive visitor experience.
The firm initiated a master plan and subsequent detailed planning of an entire educational campus with the Pingguo Uruguay Football School and is delving deeper into TOD development with the Shenzhen Xiaomeisha Transport Centre.
All these endeavours, whether conceptualized, on-site, or completed, epitomize the firm's ‘Social Commercial’ principle: projects that place the human being centre stage, and which represent the creation of improved environments for public encounter and authentic collective identities - projects that are truly outstanding, truly active, and truly social.
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