Cloud Valley Hub, Ningbo, PRC

The Cloud Valley community centre is a mixed-use scheme comprising meeting rooms, exhibition space, retail, offices and amenities in Ningbo.
The building is located in the heart of Cloud Valley, a new e-commerce district on the outskirts of Ningbo. Its initial function is to market and promote the Cloud Valley district, signifying the start of development while expressing the spirit of a new emerging economy.

Site Plan

Ground Floor Plan


First Floor Plan
Second Floor Plan
The meeting rooms and exhibitions spaces are raised off the ground, connected by a ring of circulation around a central courtyard. On the ground floor, retail, restaurants and amenities are arranged as a series of pavilions that populate an urban landscape with gardens and plazas where people can meet and interact. This arrangement was proposed to challenge, in a playful way, typical notions of Chinese object making and use of public space. The distinction between inside and outside is blurred and a multi-leveled landscape with different sized plazas, courtyards, terraces diversifies the social and circulation spaces.
The material expression of the building enhances these differences further: the two lower levels are clad in dark metal profile. Above, the continuous floor to ceiling glazing and silver profile metal suggest a hovering ‘cloud’.

It was essential that the combination of built form and open space not only fosters a feeling of community, but enhances the user experience. The creation of a hard landscape across the site, with pockets of soft, green spaces embedded in the surface sets up a flexible environment where visitors can gather for formal and informal events. The landscape uses natural materials – timber decking and natural stone – that will change in quality over time.
The building was designed and built within nine months and represents a highly successful collaboration between our client and the local LDI.










Cloud Valley Hub, Ningbo, PRC
Client
Vanke
Local Design Institute
Ningbo Institute of Architecture and Urban Design Ltd
Contractor
Zhejiang Tianqin
Landscape Architect
Aecom
Programme
1,400m2 lifestyle and amenity space, 1,100m2 workspace and 700m2 marketing space
Site area
0.75 ha