Shaoxing Huafa Community Center

Shaoxing Huafa Community Center is designed to become a new landmark for the ancient water town of Shaoxing in Zhejiang Province, China, echoing the City’s profound cultural background and heritage.

The building will initially function as an exhibition center for the city’s master plan, demonstrating the overall layout of Shaoxing Huafa Financial Vitality City. After phase one, it will be converted into a community center filled with multiple service functions for residents around the area, such as a bookstore, family banquet halls, a children’s playroom, a mini theater, and a sports center.

Shaoxing has a strong tradition in the fine arts, especially in writing, calligraphy, and poetry, so the structure borrows its design from stacked books and scholarly tomes. These form the building’s massing and create terraces and cantilevers that follow a clear progression.

The terraces are connected to the ground floor through a sequence of stairs that integrate into the façade, allowing visitors to arrive at each story without entering the building. The same idea of stacked books is further expressed on the façade as horizontal louvers representing pages and paper. The façade lines extend over to create a system of steps and terraces that connects each floor.

Shaoxing’s ancient city is also characterized by ubiquitous waterways and exquisite bridges and has a deep-rooted bond with the Grand Canal. This became the main driver for the project’s landscape design, which conducted a sensible approach to sustainability, took careful attention to local tradition, and functioned as an extension of landscape from which it merges.

A culmination of the interior functions, the pool on the fourth floor is one of the highlights of the design. To further elevate the quality of the space and increase the amount of natural light inside, the project team developed a system of skylights that works together with the main structure and adapts to the conditions on the site.

Enriching its neighboring area with all these innovative elements and cultural functions, Shaoxing Huafa Community Center, as one of the city’s iconic social infrastructures, is enhancing social values and contributing to the long-term growth of the city.