We are delighted to announce the appointment of former senior associate director, Leon Zhang, as Project Director, Shanghai Studio.
As a national first-level registered architect in China, Leon Zhang has nearly 20 years of design and project management experience in the industry. Since joining Benoy Shanghai in 2014, he has led and participated in the design of many office, commercial, hotel, urban complex and planning projects. His areas of specialism include the overall planning and design of new parcels and areas, and commercial complex projects from planning stage through to architectural design.
Leon is skilled at integrating international design experience with local standards and current characteristics analysis. He also tends to owners’ development needs, communicating clearly at all times while providing a high-quality design programme that is both creative and cost-effective. Representative works include the first completed flagship project within the new COFCO brand product line, COFCO Joy Breeze, which comprises a 330,000m2 ‘Gusu Ideal Living Space’ for the urban middle class in Suzhou; and Wenzhou INCITY Mega, a commercial complex over 250,000m2 in size adjacent to the city’s Central Green Axis. He also worked on the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Cooperation & Innovation Base commercial and cultural centre project. Located on the artificial island of Zhuhai, this project has been key to the development of the mega complex within the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area. It also creates an important node within the Guangzhou-Shenzhen Science and Technology Corridor. And in Shenzhen, Zhang brought his skills to bear on the Huaide Urban Renewal Complex, a project which integrates offices, hotels, apartments, and retail, with a total construction area of 470,000m2.
Qin Pang, Director and Head of the Shanghai Studio, congratulated Leon on his new appointment: “In the past two decades of professional practice, Leon has accumulated a lot of experience in the balance of humanistic care and technical persistence in design and management across different dimensions. This has been fully demonstrated in many projects in recent years, winning wide recognition and respect from owners and peers. Undoubtedly, this new role has the potential to provide additional opportunities and will enable him to help us create more beautiful public spaces. Congratulations again.”
