Benoy was responsible for the interior design and signage of the Nanjing T Centre project for the commercial and workplace spaces, which was recently unveiled for the first time by the client, CITIC Pacific Properties. The project is located in the Qingliangmen block in Nanjing’s Gulou District, near the Hexi CBD, the second-largest central business district in East China. The centre is surrounded by a diverse and well-established commercial and residential area. The Nanjing T Centre offers convenient accessibility to both metro lines and seamlessly integrates into the complex urban fabric, meeting the needs of a wide range of retail businesses.
The architecture of the project echoes the unique character of the site by creating an enclosed commercial space that is appropriately scaled and distinctive. The centrepiece of the project is the twisting tower, which gracefully opens up to create more public space, forming an urban plaza. This design approach forms an inviting inward-facing courtyard, surrounded by a vibrant podium of commercial space.
Benoy draws inspiration from Nanjing’s diverse urban culture and lifestyle into the design, seamlessly blending it with the building’s unique commercial footprint. The interior spaces feature three different scales of the atrium spaces, nested within the overall design to create the perfect interplay between stage and story. The design of the project beautifully captures the multifaceted nature of the city. Benoy aims to carry forward the designer’s vision, ensuring that the interior spaces truly embody the essence of Nanjing with the core design of “a reflection of the city”.
For the interior concept, the Benoy team envisaged three open commercial atriums as “viewfinders”, inspired by scenes of Nanjing life, deconstructing and “projecting” them back into more dynamic and richer spatial elements. At the same time, the team’s understanding of public space and attributes of the commercial sector have been incorporated to give the three atrium spaces a new and highly recognisable image: the theatre “image”, art “image” and garden “image”. Together, these three spaces reflect the evolving lifestyle of Nanjing, complementing and interacting with the outdoor courtyard to establish a defined flow that ensures a memorable shopping experience.
Additionally, the Benoy team thoughtfully designed dedicated spaces on different floors of the Nanjing T Centre project to cater to the diverse customer base. In the lower ground floor food area, the team opted for a minimalist approach to traditional culture, believing it would exude elegance and timelessness compared to the architectural reproductions that have become popular in recent years. The designers drew inspiration from the traditional streets and scenes of Nanjing and used the contrast of materials and colours to create a distinctive atmosphere in the lower ground floor corridor. Originally only one side of the corridor was in use, but it has been transformed into a unique and bustling space that complements the main commercial area.
The Nanjing T Centre project is making steady progress, and we look forward to its public opening in the near future.
Project overview:
Scope of services:
Commercial space and workplace design
Category:
Mixed-use, commercial, workplace, apartments
Client:
CITIC Pacific Properties
Total floor area:
131,090 m2
Principle project designer:
Qin Pang
Project leaders:
Frank Xu, Andy Zeng
Project design team:
Yucan Pan, Ding Le, David Baik, Linhong Jiang, Liam Meng, Super Zhang
