By Holly Giermann

China-based firm PWD Architecture will soon break ground on Dali Creative Area, a mixed-use development in Dali City, in Yunnan province. The project took home first place in a 2014 design competition, and takes significant direction from the area’s landscape, employing a minimalist stepped-form that celebrates its setting. The development will include a hotel, restaurants, offices, retail and exhibition space. It is slated for completion in 2016.

Inspired to create a form that does not detract from the area’s natural beauty, the Dali Creative Area was largely designed in section, effectively supplying daylight and natural ventilation while maintaining views. The resulting set of buildings step with the terrain’s contours and respond to a central green space at the ground level. Similarly, movement through the space alternates between interior areas and open-air terraced green spaces.

Due to its proximity to a historic city gate, the complex maintains single-height commercial and cultural spaces interconnected by lofty double- and triple-height lobbies. The North building will host an exhibition area, media rooms, and multi-occupancy offices, while the South building will house commercial activities, including retail space, restaurants, and a conference center. A separate structure unifies the complex and offers visitors a hotel and wellness spa.

The structures themselves employ simple forms that are modernized with a stacked bar construction system and aluminum and timber facades. The facades themselves are composed of clean lines that create subtle backdrops for the landscape and frame views across the province.

The next stage of the Dali Creative Area will include the development of an additional belvedere-style commercial building.

Award: First Prize
Project Name: Creative and Economic Area Dali
Architects: PWD Architecture
Location: Dali, Yunnan, China
Design Architect : PWD Architecture Beijing
Partners In Charge: Marcel Holmberg, Lin Wang
Project Team: Marcin Olszowski
Collaborators: Flore Outtara, Kevin Park, Tom Benson, Grzegorz Layer, Krzysztof Weber, Jan Pietrzak, Tomasz Brzozowski, Daniel Mayer, Wei Hong, Tianyu Zhang, Francis Young
Local Architect: Yunan Pan-Asia Engineering Institute
Landscape Architect: L&A Design group Beijing branch
Sustainability Consultant: Marcin Duszyk
Client: Yuxi city housing development investments ltd.
Area: 25000.0 sqm
Year: 2016
Photographs: PWD, +OUT, White Monkeys

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