We wanted the mall to feel bright and airy, so included a series of voids penetrating the building. These spectacular spaces are spanned by circulation 'bridges’ to help with visitor flow, while sunken ‘pools’ feature at ground level, creating seating areas.

A central hub with a reflection pool on the ground floor is in one of these open spaces, looking up through all five floors to a glass ceiling, allowing natural light to shine through. This creates a "town square" style destination within the heart of the development; a place to meet, enjoy and relax as part of the wider experience, as well as host events and entertainment.

This focus on natural lighting ensures that the environment does not feel sterile and allowed us to play with reflections throughout the mall’s walkways, creating tranquil, inspiring places.

Silks and other natural materials were used for a range of sculptures throughout the mall to add further interest to the spaces and create a sense of discovery. One of these pieces was a flock of metal cranes, a bird that represents longevity and happiness in Chinese culture, and serves as the centrepiece of one of the key retail zones.

Wooden boxes project from the facade, reminiscent of the traditional balconies found along the many canals, replicating the rhythm of the surrounding streets.

Large malls can sometimes feel remote from their surroundings, disconnected and dropped into an existing streetscape.

We focused our landscaping approach on creating a sense of arrival and welcome to successfully integrate it with the locality. Using the existing canal edge, new water features, land bridges, bench seating and planting strategies were combined to create something to complement and reflect characteristics of Suzhou’s natural beauty.