The City of Changchun is reactivating and expanding the existing transit system to connect the city center, extending the network of city arteries and identifying strategic sites within the extensive redevelopment project. Zvzgstudio was invited to research, design, and develop site-specific strategies and future extension plans for one of the sites that are going to serve as one of the major entry points into the city. Within the development, zvzgstudio was selected to activate and expand the transportation node and convert it into a public recreation and entertainment hub.

The new development includes the design of the extensive network of underground retail and entertainment spaces and strategies for their connection to an adjacent residential zone.  The new design will provide an extended new layer of public spaces by reconnecting the previously unoccupied area next to the extensive traffic network and city center. This new public layer will only function within the urban fabric if the underground system stands in direct correlation with the overground streetscape and cityscape.  The new underground public layer will largely depend upon the simultaneous activation of the overground.

The aspect which generally separates underground spaces from the streetscape most is the lack of visual and physical connection, which amplifies the disconnection into a psychological barrier. The introduction of a layered, cascading facades that are integrated into the landscape along with a system of open plazas identified by light structures, create an intermediate zone between the inside and outside while establishing landmarks at strategic intersections, indicating the existence of the underground network and offering orientation in form of destinations and attractions from afar.

Several entry points were established to direct human flow towards gravitation points of the development between the over-and-underground landscapes. These entry points are marked with pavilions that propagate into the landscape and encourage discovery. The unknown and the unseen create curiosity.

To complete The Loop, a new design identifies several overground structures that work as focal points within the complex system of the underground retail and overground public environment. One of the structures houses the entertainment complex with restaurants and function rooms and another one, shaped as series of modernized houses and overlooking the proposed water feature, accommodates health center and spa.