Joel Sanders Architect

Phoenix Publishing and Media Group (PPMG), the largest media and publishing companies in China, awarded Joel Sanders Architect and FreelandBuck first prize in an invited international competition. Their winning proposal for the Kunshan Phoenix Cultural Mall – an 80,000 sqm corporate headquarters and cultural complex – consists of a 20-story office tower perched upon a five-story podium organized around four ‘cultural cores’ that house theaters, exhibition halls, a fitness club and an education center.

A retail loop, comprised of affiliated stores, restaurants and cafes, spirals around each cultural core allowing culture and commerce to mix. The large urban site is divided into four pedestrian-scaled blocks that define a central outdoor atrium. The Book Mart crowns the entire complex and serves as a base for the office tower unifying all of the programmatic elements. A green roof acts as a cultural park where the general public and Phoenix employees come together. The tower is clad with a striking pattern of diagonal louvers that provide solar shading and mark the tower as a visual icon on the city skyline.