The Hub | Performance & Exhibition Center

The Hub | Performance & Exhibition Center

The ongoing events and visitors that inhabit this urban oasis, together with the designed spatial elements, bring a transformative and invigorating life to a neighborhood in the making. As Shanghai expands, the Hongqiao District has become its new vibrant neighborhood because of the concentration of Hongqiao Railway and Subway Station, Hongqiao Airport, the new Convention Center and the CBD.

The developer Shui On Land, the mastermind behind the Xintiandi development introduced the HUB mixed-use development in the heart of this new district. The highlight of this complex is the Performance and Exhibition Center that is envisioned as the “hot spot” of culture and arts of the new neighbourhood.

The interior concept draws inspiration from landscape to create a nature-like environment that provides retreat from the heavily built context and visual overload of contemporary culture. The performance center interior is perceived as a five-story urban oasis in the form of as a solid rock set inside the exterior envelop; spaces are carved out and programmatic elements inserted.

“Moving elements in a city, and in particular the people and their activities, are as important as the stationary physical parts. We are not simply observers of this spectacle, but are ourselves a part of it, on the stage with the other participants.”
Kevin Lynch, The Image of the City, (MIT Press, Cambridge, MA: 1960) p. 02

Visitors arriving from the subway station find themselves walking into an underground space, with the ceiling covered in metal tubes mimicking the roots of the forest above. A dramatic escalator tunnel with deep ceiling coves brings one out of the ground into the primary exhibition hall. A floating canopy of wood sticks hovering over the three-story atrium transforms the space into a forest. Gallery openings are wrapped in interlocking solid sandstone and light walnut balustrades.

Wherever a visitor is, his/her role as the spectator and the partaker of a performance on stage is constantly alternating as one meanders along the cavernous galleries and bridges. Hidden above at the upper levels is the treasure box – a 750-seat performance hall with floating screens, associating with the bamboo slips from ancient China to “record” the stories inside.

One can discover other delightful spaces carved into the sandstone mass throughout – golden toilet cubicles; cigar room, salon, and bars as wooden houses inserted into the rock; halls of mirror in black-glazed tiles with green toilet rooms; bronze elevator cabs; private VIP rooms dressed in hand-painted tiles that narrate the story of Hongqiao District’s humble past; and a golden trellis inside the VIP Lounge dotted with intricately crafted pendant lights.

“Moving elements in a city, and in particular the people and their activities, are as important as the stationary physical parts. We are not simply observers of this spectacle, but are ourselves a part of it, on the stage with the other participants.”
Kevin Lynch, The Image of the City, (MIT Press, Cambridge, MA: 1960) p. 02

Kevin Lynch, 《城市意象》,(麻省理工学院出版社,美国,马萨诸塞州,剑桥市:1960年出版)第二页

Gross Area
15,700 m²

Status
Complete

Completion Date
October 2015

Duration
August 2013 – October 2015

Address
33 Shaohong Road, Minghang District, Shanghai

2017
Blueprint Awards 2017, by Blueprint Magazine, London, UKThe Hub Performance And Exhibition Center, Best Interior Project - Leisure Category, Highly Commended
AZ Awards 2017, by AZURE Magazine, Canada The Hub Performance And Exhibition Center, Commercial and Institutional category, Winner
Building of the Year Awards 2017, by ArchDaily Website The Hub Performance And Exhibition Center, Culture Architecture Category, Finalist
2016
A&D Trophy Awards 2016, by Perspective Limited, Hong Kong, ChinaThe Hub Performance And Exhibition Center, Best Transportation Hub Terminal/Lounge Category in Interior Design, Best of Category
Asia Pacific Interior Design Awards 2016, by Hong Kong Interior Design Association, Hong Kong, ChinaThe HUB Performance and Exhibition Center, Judge's Choice
Asia Pacific Interior Design Awards 2016, by Hong Kong Interior Design Association, Hong Kong, ChinaThe HUB Performance and Exhibition Center, Judge's Choice
Asia Pacific Interior Design Awards 2016, by Hong Kong Interior Design Association, Hong Kong, ChinaThe HUB Performance and Exhibition Center, Public Space Category, Gold
Best of Year Awards 2016, by Interior Design Magazine, New York, USAThe HUB Performance and Exhibition Center, Entertainment Category, Winner