Over 90 shortlisted real estate projects from Mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau, Japan, Southeast Asia, India, and Australia competed for 35 accolades at the 15th edition of the PropertyGuru Asia Property Awards Grand Final Event, which was held as a virtual gala event last week.
In a string of wins this year, multiple Benoy projects swept multiple awards in the following local and top regional categories:
PropertyGuru Asia Property Awards (Mainland China, Hong Kong & Macau) 2021
Winner — Best Retail Architectural Design — Sanya CDF Mall II
Winner — Best Mixed-Use Architectural Design — Alibaba Central China Headquarters and Industrial Complex
Highly Commended – Best Retail Interior Design — Seazen Suzhou Wuyue Plaza
PropertyGuru Asia Property Awards Grand Final 2021
Regional Winner — Best Retail Architectural Design — Sanya CDF Mall II
Country Winner — Best Mixed-Use Architectural Design — Alibaba Central China Headquarters and Industrial Complex
Having been shortlisted for the regional level, Sanya CDF Mall was further awarded Best Retail Architectural Design (Asia), the top award for its category for all of Asia.
Discover the winning projects below:
Sanya CDF Mall II, Hainan, China
The Sanya CDF Mall Phase II is a pioneering mixed-use commercial development located on Hexin Island in Haitang Bay. Benoy led the masterplanning and architecture design for Phase II of the development, and the vision was to create a world-class destination in Haitang Bay. Phase II took inspiration from Hainan’s natural habitat and the pearl oysters native to the island. The defining roof canopies mimic the gentle and sinuous curves of the Hainan pearl. The smooth, rounded appearance and alluring radiance of the large South Sea pearls are reflected in the soaring canopies, creating a distinctive and captivating appearance.
Benoy carefully considered the location’s environment and humid continental climate with the specially designed roof canopies, enhancing outdoor comfort as they maximize air circulation and create solar shading to temper the humid local conditions. They furthermore provide shelter against strong wind and rain during the typhoon seasons. It is also set up scientifically by simulating the most unfavorable solar altitude angle to account for and shelter against harsh tropical sunlight.
Various measures such as the second-storey corridor and landscape greening have created many comfortable outdoor leisure spaces, allowing tourists to stop, feel the nature, and enjoy the river island.
Alibaba Central China Headquarters and Industrial Complex, Wuhan, China
Alibaba’s Central China Headquarters and Industrial Complex is located in the Xudong business district at the core of Wuhan’s inner ring. It covers a total area of 44,654 m², with above-ground GFA roughly at 300,000 m², with two eco office towers, 280m and 190m in height respectively, with a total GFA of 210,000 m², and a new retail commercial hub covering 90,000 m².
The development implements Alibaba’s hybrid digital ecosystem and enhances Alibaba’s presence in central China by driving the transformation of its brick-and-mortar businesses. This project will create an intelligent industrial cluster to support talent, entrepreneurship, work and life in Wuhan.
Following in-depth research into Alibaba’s corporate culture and interaction between its offices and businesses, Benoy formulated the AliCampus concept and proposed creative spaces such as Challenge Avenue, Ideation Space, Resilience Space and Healing Corner, to appeal to younger employees and inject new energy into the city. The team also reconstructed these space units via the concept of a Kongming lock – a traditional Chinese wooden puzzle – into the structure. Responding to the new business requirements of technology companies, the team combined the spatial needs of B2B and B2C enterprises to form a varied and dynamic spaces which components interweave and interact with each other.
Seazen Suzhou Wuyue Plaza, Suzhou, China
Marco Polo proclaimed Suzhou the “Venice of the East” and was a center of business and commerce in China with its Grand Canal. Our goal was to create an authentic, contemporary reinterpretation, using world-class design thinking and internationally proven techniques.
Inspired by the Chinese saying, “Above there is heaven, below there are Suzhou and Hangzhou”, we created a dichotomy within the mall to generate dynamics and dialogues between the “heavenly” retail indoor street punctuated by skylights on the top floor, and the contemporary retail floors below.
The top floor (L6) is a modern interpretation of street life and the waterway landscape of Suzhou’s famour Pinjiang Road. With careful analysis of the macro and micro elements that make up Pinjiang Road, Benoy successfully designed and recreated an indoor retail street with authentic atmospheres of the Old Town on top of a newly developed shopping mall.
On the modern retail floors below (L1‑5), the design concept was inspired by the artisan tradition of carving and the craftmanship of woodworking. The carving of sinuous, fluid surfaces informed the interior design elements on the lower 5 floors. Such examples can be observed throughout the mall interior, from the signature curved atrium edges to the dynamic curved wall cladding panels around the lift lobbies.
