AQSO arquitectos office, market eight, louvers, colors, main entrance, square, courtyard, stone pavement, translucent glass

Market Eight stands out for its modern aesthetics and ideas. The project redefines the conventional use of public space, developing with open courtyards and corridors, and stretching out towards the city with a sinuous and captivating design.

Luis Aguirre
Sergio Blanco
Diego Linares
James Tendayi Matsuku
He Wei
Zhang Zhang
Engineering:
Hainan Consulting

Location: Lianyungang, China
Site area: 9917 sqm
Ground Floor Area: 12000 sqm
Client: Private developer

AQSO arquitectos office. The building consists of four interlocking levels. On the second and third floors there are large terraces from which to contemplate the landscape.

Located in the Chinese port of Lianyungang, the shopping centre grows on four rather unconventional levels. The real novelty here lies in the transformation of the closed environment of a commercial centre into an engaging open space, with terraces turned into green courtyards and internal corridors opening to the city.

AQSO arquitectos office. The top view of the model of the building shows the meandering silhouette of the shopping centre. The zig-zag shape creates courtyards open to the landscape.
AQSO arquitectos office. The circulation system of the shopping centre is based on a main axis linking the five volumes of the building and a series of ring-shaped corridors around it.

Consequentially, the experience of space and the internal mobility become essential factors in the buildingā€™s innovation. Traditional centres consist of an enclosed volume in which the covered interior atrium becomes the only public space with stores allocated around it. This configuration only allows a loop and a vertical circulation, in the shape of a ring and towards other floors, both completely forgetful of the context around the building.

AQSO arquitectos office, market eight, louvers, colors, white slab, escalator, commercial building, interlaced slabs, post lamps, curved facade
AQSO arquitectos office. The ground floor of the building has a large pedestrian area that allows circulation between the five groups of shops.

Market Eight, instead, leaps beyond the problem from the start, adopting a structure of five interconnected blocks, that develops both in vertical and in diagonal, with open courtyards and an eight-shape circulation between the blocks. The result is a shopping centre exposed towards the city, with a larger faƧade surface, invaded by the surrounding public space.

AQSO arquitectos office, interior, courtyard, corridor, open space, sunlight, public space, big tree, stone pavement, glass facade, grand entrance
AQSO arquitectos office. This three-dimensional construction detail shows the building's construction system and the functioning of the faƧade.

In its central part, the building grows up to four levels, while the rest of the blocks remains lower. These are the parts that accommodate the suggestive, green roof-terraces, often incorporated by restaurants and cafeterias. The vertical connection between levels is efficiently solved with escalators located in the courtyards; while the diagonal connection, between blocks, is left to the beautiful open corridors and courtyards.

aqso arquitectos office, market eight, louvers, colors, white slab, escalator, commercial building, interlaced slabs
AQSO arquitectos office, market eight, shopping centre, landscape design, curved facade, permeable building, flow and circulation, colourful facade, orientation

The market faƧade shines with coloured glass louvers, which face alternate orientations in each floor. As the climate conditions are often favourable, public areas are left open; hence the faƧade become permeable and ventilated skin, shielding the stores from the sunlight.