Qingdao Vanke Business Park, located in Chengyang District, has been developed by Vanke as a hub for innovative businesses. The park's latest addition is a colourful, stepped, mixed-use complex designed by CLOU.

The site accommodates a bookstore, a small city hall, and retail spaces that provide exciting meeting places for cross-cultural communications. The design reflects CLOU's ongoing exploration of stepped architecture and office and commercial design integration.

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The design responds to the predominately small and medium-sized companies and young creative retailers in the office park. Opening what would traditionally be a closed building, the firm created exciting paths of exploration and vibrant social spaces. CLOU has carved the 10,000 sq m massing into a sculptural form, with stepped terraces for a proposal that shifts character from different viewpoints.

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The human-scale terraces become an extension of the office areas. Varying semi-private spaces are curated into a series of vertical landscapes, providing the flexibility to host creative outdoor events.

The volumetric form resembles stepped boxes paired with geometric windows, expressing a rational beauty. The façade design plays with shades of pinks and silver which, from a distance, creates a luminous effect that animates one approach.

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Technical sheet

• Project Name: Vanke Qingdao Business Park
• Program: commercial, office
• Location: Qingdao, China
• Area: 10,000 sqm
• Status: Completion in 2020
• Architecture Design: CLOU architects
• Design Team: Jan Clostermann, Wenhui Lu, Tait Kaplan, Tiago Tavares, Xiaomeng Su, Dongfang Xie, Yaxi Wang
• LDI: Beijing Architectural Design Institute of China Construction Corporation
• Façade Consultant: Huaming Design Group
• Photography: Wu Qingshan