The INLET Block 2 recognised with a win at World Design Awards 2022

Taking home the win in the “Commercial – Built” Category, The INLET Block 2 was recognised for its sensitive and well-thought architectural and urban design strategies to restore the urban edge of an old heritage site in Hongkou district, Shanghai.

The project is a 3-storeyed retail building designed by our studio in Shanghai with DP’s landscape and lighting specialist arms DP Green and DP Lighting. Sited amidst a cluster of century-old shikumen buildings, originally shophouses and residential dwellings, the design draws inspirations from the peculiarities of its surrounds. Its intentionally simple form respects and responds to the architectural language of the adjacent shophouses by adopting the rhythm of its party walls and feature of terracotta fin-walls. Simultaneously, its full glass façade and open spaces creates visual and pedestrian porosity; becoming an interstitial space that functions as both an urban portal between the old and the new, and a social space characterised in historicity, culture and retail. This allows The Inlet Block 2 to fulfil the larger aim of regenerating interest and appreciation for the city’s built heritage while revitalising the precinct.

The World Design Awards 2022 is a forum that examines the relationship between Architecture, the city, the natural world and the community. It celebrates architecture and urban designs that are programmatically astute, boldly conceived and intently client-focused with outcomes that are people-centric and sustainable.

Heritage Building Consultancy
Shanghai Zhangming Architectural Design

Landscape Design
DP Green

Lighting Design
DP Lighting

Local Design Institute
Shanghai Tianhua Architecture Planning & Engineering

M&E Consultant
WSP

Curtain Wall Specialist
Schmidlin Façade Consultancy Company

Main Contractor
Shanghai Meida

Curtain Wall Contractor
Shanghai Sunvast

Client
Chong Bang Group