Yinkou Sales Office | United Design Practice UDP

Water is a key concept that ties the whole project together. The riverside vista is an important selling point of the mixed development. It also contains the biggest indoor water theme park in China. For the logo, we isolated and played up the w element, and used it as a motif to be used both spatially and graphically. Architecturally, we housed the sales center in two glass boxes, intersecting at a slant that is consistent with the geometry of the w in our logo. One volume houses the entrance and the site model. The other volume houses the showroom units, meeting and activity rooms, staff office and back of house functions. These spaces are discrete self-contained glass boxes, connected via walkways, choreographed on principles of the optimal consumer journey that best facilitate the sales conversion process. The reason for these boxes within a box is also for energy saving purposes. The temperature in Yinkou is below zero for half the year, hence only the internal spaces need to be heated, whilst the outer box weather proofs the interior and allows natural sunlight to stream in. We sought to create a dramatic entrance that appeals to northern Chinese in its grandeur and simplicity. The entrance walkway floats above a reflection pool, and connects straight into the interior where the site model sits. Points of light connect into a stream of luminescence that starts from the pool and ends indoor next to the model, a lit metaphor for Xiongba river itself.