Energy Sensor : An Exchange Hub between Heaven and Earth

This project was born during the Workshop organized in March 2015 in Shanghai, China. The Xujiahui district particularly sanded out by its contrasts. Between buildings inherited from the former French Concession and an economic center, on a disproportionate scale, dedicated to electronics, it is a question of capturing the characteristics of this particular context, to imagine a project that comes to share and rebroadcast a potential of energies at the service of users.

The site of St Ignace cathedral held our attention because it is in this situation of unused limit. The project thus comes to make the link between the architectural heritage and the attractiveness of Xujiahui Boulevard. The question being: How to revalue the site of the cathedral, to move from a line of passage to a place of sharing? The challenge was to capture the energies present in the three dimensions, from the underground to the sky. The human flows of circulation, the horizontal strata and the diversity of scales were as many elements to share within the project area. The project is centered on public spaces on all the layers of the ground, to which are linked various programs intended for Shanghai locals, but also for foreigners, encouraging encounters, which are difficult today because they are subject to control in public places in China. This is why the problematic of the hotel has been reinterpreted in accordance with this project dynamic. Combined with open programs such as a media library, cyber café, catering, sports facilities, art spaces, and the inevitable shops and offices in this area, the hotel structure opens up to its environment and creates a microcosm of activities, increasing the attractiveness and visibility of the site.