Bihailou Art Village

Under construction in the Shatoujiao neighborhood near the Shenzhen-Hong Kong border, Bihailou Art Village is a 6,500-square-meter (69,965 sq ft) mixed-use cultural and commercial center by MVRDV. Rather than a single monolithic block, the project fragments a theater, exhibition and museum spaces, retail, and dining into a stack of individually expressed volumes, each with its own shape, color, and material so different functions can operate on independent schedules. Publicly accessible stairs, ramps and elevated walkways thread between the volumes to a series of rooftop terraces overlooking the mountains, city, and bay, while ground-level overhangs create sheltered public gathering space. The design reinterprets MVRDV and The Why Factory's "Vertical Village" concept (2011/2012), remixing the colors, shapes and materials of the surrounding village and the former Bihailou restaurant that once stood on the site. Commissioned by Shenzhen Shatoujiao Commercial Foreign Trade Co., Ltd.