Pocket Plaza is located in a historical downtown district in Shanghai.
Taking the opportunity of old quarter renovation, the District Government has decided to dismantle the two rows of shabby residences with fire hazards and transform the site into a public urban space in the neighborhood. In the meantime, we find the neighboring blocks lack public spaces.
Based on the above information, we believe that public space with an appropriate scale is most necessary and suitable for local residents' daily use. After the old buildings were dismantled, the site has turned roughly to be a rectangular shape, and enclosed on three sides, shaped like a pocket.
The main space inside is designed into a small square enclosed by open galleries. The ground of the square is 0.5 m higher than Yongjia Road, giving people a sense of territory and an interesting view of streets. Inside the square there is a dry fountain, which can be switched on or off according to different periods.
The residences in the neighborhood are mainly painted with warm-toned color or built with ganged bricks, which are very common in Shanghai’s urban area. Therefore, the plaza ground is paved with common red water permeable brick, its wooden beams, soffit and benches are made of light color logs and the weathering steel wall is painted rust red. In this warm-toned atmosphere, its steel pillars are made astonishing bright green by fluorocarbon spraying. Such a sharp color contrast has brought kind of 'everyday relaxing'.
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Last year more than 40 countries took part in the WAN Awards with strong showings from Europe, the Americas and Asia-Pacific. And we saw some truly outstanding projects, take a look at the winners from last year here.