BEIJING, CHINA – The LCW Group was the landscape architect for a new retail center, Beijing Cloudland Shopping Complex, the commercial segment of the Cloudland Comprehensive Plan that recently opened to the public. The Cloudland Shopping Complex is a development of COFCO Land Holdings Limited, China’s state-owned food processing holding company.
The Cloudland Comprehensive Plan adopts the global village design concept with a goal to provide residents and shoppers with a “best of the world” shopping, working and living experience. Along with the new retail center, the planned community consists of a residential segment which includes custom homes, single family residential homes and townhomes, live-work products, and office opportunities.
The Cloudland Shopping Complex represents an advancement of the healthy community concept in China, according to Li Wang, president of The LCW Group with offices in Southern California and China. The entire shopping center is an outdoor mall and only major stores, the supermarket and movie theater have direct access from the parking garage. “It may seem common and normal in California, but it’s a very risky and ambition plan for Beijing,” said Wang. “Due to extreme weather conditions, August temperatures can exceed 104 F and January can dip to -4 F. Therefore, people in Beijing are not use to the concept of a modern, open air shopping mall that requires them to walk outside and get some exercise in the process.”
Wang said the landscape design is carrying forward the healthy community mission by inviting shoppers to tour all the shops by foot via outdoor routes. “Our response to this challenging mission was to add lots of fun and surprise elements into our landscape design,” Wang explained. “These elements include paving patterns that give shopper the hint of more interesting spaces to explore, hidden water features that surprise shoppers with water vapor, and dancing water jet streams that are fun attractions on a hot summer day. Seating areas with oversized planter pots shelter shoppers from cold breezes in winter, and multiple gathering spaces allow the mall management to host multiple outdoor events at the same time to attract different groups of people.”
The Cloudland Shopping Complex is a 2.2-million square-foot property and is Beijing’s greatest and most inclusive working, entertaining, and shopping experience. Phase I encompasses 74 anchor stores that establish the retail brand of the complex. Designed by an international group, along with The LCW Group landscape architects, RTKL of Los Angeles is the project architect and signage was designed by Inter Space Time of Tokyo.
Leading Entitlement Projects Forward
Grand Opening, Cloudland Shopping Complex, Beijing, China
The Cloudland Comprehensive Plan adopts the global village design concept with a goal to provide residents and shoppers with a “best of the world” shopping, working and living experience. Along with the new retail center, the planned community consists of a residential segment which includes custom homes, single family residential homes and townhomes, live-work products, and office opportunities.
The Cloudland Shopping Complex represents an advancement of the healthy community concept in China, according to Li Wang, president of The LCW Group with offices in Southern California and China. The entire shopping center is an outdoor mall and only major stores, the supermarket and movie theater have direct access from the parking garage. “It may seem common and normal in California, but it’s a very risky and ambition plan for Beijing,” said Wang. “Due to extreme weather conditions, August temperatures can exceed 104 F and January can dip to -4 F. Therefore, people in Beijing are not use to the concept of a modern, open air shopping mall that requires them to walk outside and get some exercise in the process.”
Wang said the landscape design is carrying forward the healthy community mission by inviting shoppers to tour all the shops by foot via outdoor routes. “Our response to this challenging mission was to add lots of fun and surprise elements into our landscape design,” Wang explained. “These elements include paving patterns that give shopper the hint of more interesting spaces to explore, hidden water features that surprise shoppers with water vapor, and dancing water jet streams that are fun attractions on a hot summer day. Seating areas with oversized planter pots shelter shoppers from cold breezes in winter, and multiple gathering spaces allow the mall management to host multiple outdoor events at the same time to attract different groups of people.”
The Cloudland Shopping Complex is a 2.2-million square-foot property and is Beijing’s greatest and most inclusive working, entertaining, and shopping experience. Phase I encompasses 74 anchor stores that establish the retail brand of the complex. Designed by an international group, along with The LCW Group landscape architects, RTKL of Los Angeles is the project architect and signage was designed by Inter Space Time of Tokyo.