MVRDV's latest project, the Bihailou Art Village in Shenzhen, is a testament to the firm's innovative approach to urban design. This mixed-use cultural hub, spanning 6,500 square meters, is a refreshing take on the Vertical Village concept, first envisioned by MVRDV and The Why Factory over a decade ago. The project challenges the monotony of dense, high-rise developments in rapidly growing cities like Shenzhen, emphasizing the importance of humanizing urban spaces.
The design is a stack of individually expressed volumes, each housing a different program: theaters, retail spaces, restaurants, and the Fish Lantern Museum. This fragmentation of spaces is a key feature, allowing each program to have its own identity and schedule, while still being interconnected through a network of public circulation routes. The project transforms stairs, ramps, escalators, terraces, and bridges into an extension of the public realm, creating an open, accessible urban landscape.
One of the most intriguing aspects of the Bihailou Art Village is its visual dialogue with the surrounding environment. The building's irregular volumes draw inspiration from the colors, materials, and rooflines of neighboring buildings in Shatoujiao, as well as the former Bihailou restaurant that once occupied the site. This approach not only creates a sense of place but also ensures that the project is a harmonious addition to the existing urban fabric.
The project's emphasis on accessibility is further evident in its roofscape. Visitors can move through the gaps between the stacked volumes, leading to publicly accessible terraces that offer stunning views of the surrounding mountains, the Shenzhen skyline, and the bay. At ground level, deep overhangs provide shaded gathering spaces, and new landscaping merges with the existing public plaza, reinforcing the building's role as a neighborhood destination.
In my opinion, the Bihailou Art Village is a brilliant example of how architecture can address the challenges of urban density while preserving the human scale and social character of village life. It challenges the notion that density and humanity are mutually exclusive, and instead proposes a more porous, interconnected urban structure. This project is a call to action for architects and urban planners to rethink the way we design our cities, prioritizing accessibility, individuality, and the well-being of residents.
What makes this project particularly fascinating is its ability to blend the traditional village concept with the demands of a modern, rapidly growing city. It raises a deeper question: can we create cities that are both dense and human-centric, where the individual is not lost in the sea of concrete and steel? The Bihailou Art Village is a step in the right direction, offering a glimpse into a future where urban life is not just about the scale of buildings but also about the quality of human interaction and the preservation of neighborhood identity.
