Upon Grand Joy acquired this project at the end of 2016, plans were made to add additional focus on the women’s segment. There were three major challenges for the transformation. Firstly, the large atrium in the mall was initially planned as a theatre, which was cancelled but the space was left deserted. Secondly, there's a lack of clear flow for visitors and visual highlights due to the poor connections between interior and outdoor area. Lastly, overall planning of the upper levels were monotonous, which lead to poor foot flow resulting in the weak operations of that area.

Our solutions to these challenges is to first create a series of innovative themed spaces via spatial remodeling, at the same time optimizing the circulation of pedestrian traffic of the mall. We first opened up the external facade by swapping the black LED box into a transparent glass curtain wall, a “rotating jewelry box” - creating visual contact and interaction with the Changfeng Park and the city beyond. We were inspired by the movie “Inception” for the interior space, where we extruded the basic architectural shape of the atrium all the way to the top, creating a surreal space just like the movie. We also went against the common practice and designed intricate blocks with great details, to set ourselves apart from the common rough and traditional blocks.

In a very short span of time we have completed a very significant structural reinforcement and spatial transformation. Parkside Joy City, which covers everything from fashion and entertainment to culture and art, has become the go to destination for the area. Blending with its larger context, namely the Jackie Chan Film Museum and the Changfeng Park, this trio forms a new leisure destination for the city.