03 Apr 2017
OMA design Shanghai masterplan to revive 1920s leisure district
BY Kim Megson
International architecture studio OMA have developed a new mixed-use masterplan for Columbia Circle – a historic site in the centre of Shanghai.
Columbia Circle is the first urban renewal project in the core area of the city by the Chinese real estate developer Vanke. It plans to transform a vacated 4.7 hectare compound into a new part of the city with a publicly accessible mixed-use programme – including event spaces, cultural venues, retail zones, hotels, restaurants and offices.
Columbia Circle is a site with a rich and layered history, including both preserved colonial monuments and former industrial structures.
The original buildings of the Columbia Country Club, from which the project derives its name, were designed by US architect Elliott Hazzard in the 1920s, and include the former clubhouse, a gym and an outdoor pool. The facilities were used by members of American high society living in Shanghai in the prewar years.
OMA’s renewal strategy combines the careful transformation of both the existing monuments and the industrial buildings with the introduction of three new buildings, “which extend the repertoire of spaces and offer programmatic possibilities not available in the existing buildings.”
Two new access points will improve the accessibility of Columbia Circle from the surrounding streets and connect to the outdoor spaces, designed by Dutch landscape architects West 8.
OMA have previously worked on similar masterplans combining restoration, renovation and new-build for the establishment of cultural venue Fondazione Prada (Milan, 2015); the redevelopment of a Soviet canteen in Garage Gorky Park into Garage Center of Contemporary Art (Moscow, 2015); the renovation of Fondaco dei Tedeschi (Venice, 2016); and the redesign of former coal mine Zeche Zollverein (Essen, 2007) into a museum and visitor centre.
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