The firms Jacques Ferrier Architecture and Sensual City Studio based in Paris, Lisbon and Shanghai have recently transformed a building that could have been an ordinary office building with parking into a bold and aesthetic project. Located at one of Shanghai’s busiest intersections, this «urban oasis» named T20 is vitalizing the urban district of Xujiahui.
«The design explored ways in which the project could become a generous catalyst for the wider environment, building pedestrian connections, walkways and bridges above the transport interchange as an extension of the building; in doing so, renewing the local infrastructure. Through extensive analysis, Jacques Ferrier, founder of Jacques Ferrier Architecture, and Pauline Marchetti, co-founder of Sensual City Studio, identified the need for enhanced pedestrian connectivity at the intersection and incorporated this into the building’s car park. The radical intervention creates raised and planted walkways which lift pedestrians eight metres above the crossroads to provide more logical and enjoyable connectivity between city landmarks such as the church and the park», we can learn in the press release. This piece of architecture optimizes transports and circulation while embellishing the surroundings.
Photo credit: Jacques Ferrier Architecture

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