Interview about Lilong Arcade Community Center, winner of the A' Architecture, Building and Structure Design Award 2025
Lilong Arcade thoughtfully blends traditional arcade architecture with modern design, creating accessible, versatile spaces tailored to community engagement. By carefully respecting historical context, the project enhances urban experiences and promotes social interactions, adaptability, cultural preservation, and vibrant public life within a contemporary urban setting.
View detailed images, specifications, and award details on A' Design Award & Competition website.
View Design DetailsThank you. The design of Lilong Arcade was deeply shaped by its location in Shanghai’s historic French Concession—a neighborhood known for its rich blend of Eastern and Western architectural heritage. This unique urban fabric inspired us to explore how a contemporary civic space could respond to both local identity and modern needs.We adopted the traditional arcade as a unifying architectural motif—not only for its public-facing character but also because it resonates with both European and local building traditions. This allowed us to create a space that feels culturally rooted while fostering openness and walkability.At the same time, we saw this project as an opportunity to propose a forward-looking model for urban renewal in heritage districts. Rather than replicating the past, we focused on interpreting it—using contemporary materials, flexible programming, and spatial transparency to serve today’s community life. This fusion of historical continuity and progressive design helps bridge generations and cultures, turning the building into both a civic landmark and a symbol of evolving urban identity.
Thank you. The limited 937m² plot area presented a significant design challenge, so spatial efficiency and adaptability became central to our approach for Lilong Arcade. We developed a hybrid spatial system combining fixed and flexible zones to ensure the building could accommodate a wide range of community functions without requiring a larger footprint.Essential services such as the healthcare room, service center, and kitchen were placed in fixed spaces due to their technical requirements. Surrounding these, we created flexible zones—open-plan areas with minimal partitions and movable furnishings—that can adapt to various programs throughout the day, from fitness and elder activities to children’s play and educational workshops.This adaptive strategy allows the same space to serve multiple user groups at different times, optimizing use and promoting inclusive access. It also aligns with our goal of equitable public resource distribution, especially in dense urban settings where space is scarce but community needs are diverse.
The height constraint of approximately 3.5 meters was one of the most critical limitations in the Lilong Arcade project. Since we were working within the original three-dimensional boundary of the existing structure, we couldn’t increase the building’s height. This required a structural strategy that was both space-efficient and visually light.We chose to use small column span shallow beams—spanning 4.5 to 6 meters—to reduce the overall structural depth while maintaining spatial continuity. This system allowed us to minimize floor-to-ceiling thickness and maximize the usable vertical volume within each room.Additionally, in key areas, we increased the local spans and introduced an internal atrium to enhance daylight access and spatial permeability. These moves help alleviate the sense of compression caused by the height limit, creating a brighter, more open, and welcoming environment for users. Ultimately, this technical decision supports both architectural expression and user comfort, demonstrating how constraints can lead to innovation.
Our design philosophy for the Lilong Arcade facade was rooted in creating a respectful dialogue between the historical context and modern urban life. Located in Shanghai’s Changning District—a neighborhood rich in architectural heritage—we wanted the building to feel naturally embedded in its surroundings while expressing openness and contemporary relevance.We selected light-colored bricks to reflect the material tone of nearby historic structures, ensuring visual continuity and cultural resonance. At the same time, we introduced floor-to-ceiling glass windows to invite natural light, improve interior transparency, and create visual connections between the inside and the street. This modern gesture opens the building to the community, signaling that it is a public, inclusive, and accessible space.The balance lies in contrast and complement. The solidity of the brick grounds the building in tradition, while the transparency of glass conveys civic openness and adaptability—two essential values in today’s community architecture. Together, these elements express a timeless yet forward-looking identity.
The atrium in Lilong Arcade was a key design strategy to address two major challenges: limited natural light and spatial constraints due to the dense urban context and a building height of only 3.5 meters.By placing the atrium at the center of the structure, we introduced a vertical light well that brings daylight deep into the interior spaces, reducing the need for artificial lighting and enhancing the comfort and liveliness of the environment. This is especially important in a compact urban plot where surrounding buildings can block natural light from traditional facades.Beyond lighting, the atrium plays a vital role in spatial optimization. It acts as a visual anchor and circulation hub, making the building feel more expansive and connected despite its limited floor area. It also strengthens wayfinding and spatial orientation by drawing attention to the central core, subtly organizing movement and gathering around it.In this way, the atrium not only improves environmental quality but also elevates the spatial experience, helping the community center feel open, intuitive, and welcoming—qualities that are essential for a civic space embedded in a dense urban neighborhood.
Designing Lilong Arcade required us to accommodate a diverse set of programs—ranging from daycare and elder care to healthcare and community events—within a compact footprint. Our guiding principle was to create harmonious transitions between zones by aligning spatial planning with user needs, levels of public access, and safety considerations.For example, the daycare center is deliberately positioned deeper within the site to ensure a secure and controlled environment for children, away from the street and high-traffic areas. Conversely, the senior care and wellness areas are placed on the ground level for ease of access, particularly considering mobility challenges faced by older adults.We also organized the building with a gradient of publicness: highly public, communal functions like retail and event spaces are placed closer to the entrances and outdoor areas, promoting accessibility and visual connection to the neighborhood. In contrast, functions requiring greater privacy or technical infrastructure, such as medical rooms or service support areas, are located deeper inside the building.These transitions are softened through shared circulation zones and open lounges, allowing for a seamless user experience without abrupt spatial or programmatic shifts. This layered approach not only enhances operational clarity but also fosters inclusivity and comfort across all user groups.
The visual corridor system in Lilong Arcade, especially its main axis aligned perpendicular to the Main Road, was a deliberate urban design strategy to strengthen the center’s relationship with its surroundings.By opening up the building’s central axis toward the street, we created a strong visual and spatial link between the public realm and the heart of the community center. This alignment draws people inward naturally—both visually and physically—creating a sense of openness and invitation from the outside.At the same time, the corridor extends into the interior, connecting key functional areas and guiding movement throughout the site. It serves not only as an organizing spine but also as a civic gesture that integrates the building into the walkable street network, reinforcing its role as an accessible and transparent public facility.This axial clarity makes the building more intuitive to navigate while symbolically expressing its purpose: to be a porous, community-oriented space that belongs not just to its users but to the larger urban fabric around it.
Receiving the Bronze A' Design Award for Lilong Arcade is a great honor and, more importantly, a validation of our belief that innovation and heritage can coexist meaningfully in today’s urban environments.I hope this recognition encourages a broader dialogue about how we approach design in historical urban settings—moving beyond preservation as static replication toward adaptive, community-focused renewal. Lilong Arcade demonstrates that with careful attention to context, spatial flexibility, and social inclusivity, even small-scale interventions can have a powerful civic impact.Looking ahead, I believe this award will inspire both our team and others in the field to explore design strategies that are sensitive to cultural memory while being responsive to contemporary needs. It reaffirms the importance of working within constraints—be they spatial, historical, or regulatory—not as limitations, but as catalysts for creative solutions that honor the past and serve the future.
Designing the 478.6m² of outdoor activity space in Lilong Arcade was an essential part of our strategy to extend the community center’s public presence beyond the building envelope. In a dense urban context like Shanghai, accessible and engaging outdoor environments are crucial for encouraging spontaneous interaction and fostering a sense of shared ownership.Our approach focused on three core considerations: openness, programmability, and continuity. First, we prioritized visual and physical openness by aligning the outdoor areas with the interior atrium and the surrounding pedestrian network, making the spaces feel naturally connected and easily accessible from the street.Second, we ensured the landscape design could support a range of programs—from informal gatherings and exercise to children’s play and elderly recreation—without relying on overly fixed installations. This flexibility invites a wider demographic of users and allows the space to evolve over time with the community's needs.Finally, the material choices and spatial rhythm reflect the architectural language of the building itself, creating a seamless transition between indoor and outdoor zones. Together, these strategies help activate the edge of the site, transforming it into a lively civic interface where everyday social life can unfold.
In Lilong Arcade, the combination of fixed and flexible spaces was not only a response to physical constraints but also a deliberate strategy to support social equity and maximize public resource efficiency.Fixed spaces house essential, ongoing services such as healthcare and food provision—functions that require permanence to serve the community reliably. Around these, we introduced a greater proportion of flexible spaces that can shift functions throughout the day: a single room might host children's activities in the morning, senior programs in the afternoon, and community meetings in the evening. This temporal and functional adaptability significantly expands the utility of each square meter.From the perspective of social equity, this approach ensures that public facilities remain inclusive and accessible to people of all ages and backgrounds. It avoids the exclusivity that often arises when spaces are rigidly programmed for a single group. By enabling shared use, we also reduce redundancy, minimize operational costs, and avoid underutilization—key to responsible and sustainable urban development.In this way, the operational flow of Lilong Arcade reflects a deeper commitment: to create a civic space that not only functions well but also embodies fairness, adaptability, and the collective good.
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