C·PARK Haisu

Overview

Opportunity

Solution

Impact

Team

A culture-led mixed-use destination transforms an underused urban site into a vibrant neighborhood where art, nature, commerce, and community converge.

Location

Shanghai, China

Client

Shanghai Chenhong Real Estate Development Co., Ltd. / Xin Changning Group

Expertise

[FPO] Mixed Use Office Developers [FPO] Architecture [FPO] Interior Design Mixed Use & Retail Centers Cities & Urban Design

Opportunity

On a former industrial site, C·PARK Haisu transforms a constrained urban plot into an open destination connecting culture, commerce, and community.

Located in Changning, a growing business and cultural district west of central Shanghai, C·PARK Haisu occupies a former industrial site surrounded by established neighborhoods, schools, and businesses. Its location offered an opportunity to create a new community destination beyond Shanghai's traditional CBDs. Adjacent to the Liu Haisu Art Museum, the project needed to complement an important cultural landmark while introducing offices, retail, public space, and everyday amenities. The challenge was to transform a constrained urban site into an open, connected place where art, work, commerce, and community could converge.

Why This Matters

01
A Community Connector
The surrounding neighborhood needed more places where residents, students, workers, and visitors could gather beyond home, school, work, or traditional cultural institutions.
02
A New Third Place
Open plazas, green spaces, galleries, retail, dining, and events create an accessible civic destination between home and work, bringing new energy to an established neighborhood.
03
A More Open Urban Site
Rather than treating the development as an isolated commercial complex, the opportunity was to create permeable public spaces and connections that contribute to the surrounding neighborhood.

FPO Quote

Solution

Gensler lifted the development above the ground plane, creating a porous urban landscape where architecture, art, nature, and movement continuously intersect.

Gensler transforms a constrained former industrial site into an open urban destination by lifting the building above a connected public realm. A large-span cantilever creates a central sunken plaza, allowing daylight, landscape, and pedestrian routes to penetrate the development and connect surrounding streets with the Liu Haisu Art Museum. Above, two sculptural towers establish a contemporary dialogue with the museum through fractal geometry inspired by clouds, mountains, and rock. Across multiple levels, offices, retail, culture, and landscape are woven together to create a vibrant, permeable destination.

43K

Green Space · sqm

6,000

Cultural & Art Space · sqm

110K

Project Area · sqm

43K

Green Space · sqm

6,000

Cultural & Art Space · sqm

110K

Project Area · sqm

The design process began with context: lifting the architecture, extending public space, and creating a contemporary dialogue with Shanghai's cultural landscape.

The design process began with the site's relationship to the Liu Haisu Art Museum and the surrounding neighborhood. Rather than replicate the museum's architecture, Gensler translated its geometric and natural references into a contemporary expression. Large-span structural systems were then developed to lift the building mass and free the ground plane for public use. Environmental studies informed the façade's orientation, terracotta shading, daylight, and solar performance, while circulation studies established connections between metro access, public space, retail, and surrounding streets.

Impact

C·PARK Haisu has evolved into a cultural and lifestyle destination, demonstrating how mixed-use development can strengthen neighborhood identity through public space and programming.

Since opening in 2023, C·PARK Haisu has attracted more than one million visitors and hosted 35 fashion and lifestyle events.

What Changed Because of This

01
A New Destination
C·PARK Haisu transformed a former industrial site into an active neighborhood destination connecting work, culture, retail, nature, and community.
02
Art in Everyday Life
By extending the cultural presence of the Liu Haisu Art Museum into public and commercial spaces, art becomes part of everyday neighborhood experience.
03
A Living Ecosystem
The Urban Rewilding model combines landscape, cultural programming, events, and commerce to create an environment that can continuously evolve.

Our responsibility is to understand how people live, think, and feel, and create places that respond to the diversity of human values and lifestyles.

Recognition

01

Architizer

Highlights the project as a 110,000-square-meter cultural destination integrating art, nature, community, retail, and public space, while noting its strong market performance.

02

PRC Magazine

The feature examines the project's façade, natural ventilation, environmental performance, and Urban Rewilding strategy.

03

Shanghai Municipal Government — C·PARK Haisu at JINGART

The government feature presents C·PARK Haisu's Urban Rewilding concept and its integration of art, nature, culture, and commerce.

Team

Project Leadership

Yun Hsueh

As a Principal in Gensler’s Shanghai office, Yun explores new possibilities through design, innovation, and strategic thinking. Drawing on extensive international experience and a forward-looking perspective shaped by emerging ideas, trends, and market shifts, she brings global insight to projects responding to growth, change, and transformation.

[FPO] Shamim Ahmadzadegan

Placeholder for office leadership name "Shamim Ahmadzadegan" — no matching pagePeople yet. "pnpm migrate resolve-stubs" swaps this for the real page once it exists.

Susie Zhang

As a leader of some of Gensler's most complex and high-profile projects, Susie helps clients and teams navigate complexity, align multidisciplinary expertise, and deliver ambitious projects at scale. With extensive experience across supertall towers, large-scale developments, and cross-region initiatives, she brings a strategic and execution-focused perspective to challenging projects and organizational environments.

FAQ

01

Where is C·PARK Haisu located?

C·PARK Haisu is located on Zhaohua Road in Shanghai's Changning District, an established inner-city district west of the city's traditional financial core. It sits beside the Liu Haisu Art Museum and connects to surrounding parks, green spaces, and public transit.

02

What is C·PARK Haisu?

C·PARK Haisu is a 110,000-square-meter mixed-use development combining offices, retail, cultural and art spaces, landscape, and public gathering areas. It opened in September 2023.

03

What is the Urban Rewilding concept?

Urban Rewilding is C·PARK Haisu's approach to combining nature, art, community, and commerce. Rather than treating landscape as decoration, the project uses green space and cultural programming as active components of the urban experience. The concept has been described by Shanghai's Changning District government as a way of integrating nature, art, community, and commercial activity.

04

How does C·PARK Haisu connect with the Liu Haisu Art Museum?

The project establishes a contemporary architectural and cultural dialogue with the museum next door. Its public spaces and cultural programming extend the museum's influence into the surrounding neighborhood, allowing art and cultural activity to become part of everyday urban life.

05

How does the project create public space?

The main building volumes are lifted above the ground to free the site for public activity. The development includes approximately 43,000 square meters of green space and an 8,000-square-meter sunken plaza, complemented by multi-level pedestrian connections.

06

What sustainability strategies are incorporated?

C·PARK Haisu uses a high-performance Low-E glazed façade, terracotta solar shading, operable windows for natural ventilation, dynamic air-quality monitoring, and EV charging infrastructure. The project has achieved China Green Building Three-Star and LEED Gold certifications.

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Related Expertise

Mixed Use Office Developers Architecture Interior Design Mixed Use & Retail Centers Cities & Urban Design

A culture-led mixed-use destination transforms an underused urban site into a vibrant neighborhood where art, nature, commerce, and community converge.

On a former industrial site, C·PARK Haisu transforms a constrained urban plot into an open destination connecting culture, commerce, and community.

Why This Matters

Gensler lifted the development above the ground plane, creating a porous urban landscape where architecture, art, nature, and movement continuously intersect.

The design process began with context: lifting the architecture, extending public space, and creating a contemporary dialogue with Shanghai's cultural landscape.

C·PARK Haisu has evolved into a cultural and lifestyle destination, demonstrating how mixed-use development can strengthen neighborhood identity through public space and programming.

What Changed Because of This