LITERATURE STUDY

SHANGHAI INTERNATIONAL CRUISE TERMINAL,CHINA.

INTRODUCTION
Shanghai Port International
Cruise Terminal is the
largest cruise port terminal.
Sited on the curve of the
Huangpu River’s north
Bund, Spark’s 260,000 sqm
Shanghai International
Cruise Terminal was
completed in 2011 and
combines a chorus line of
headquarter office buildings
• LOCATION: Shanghai, China
with substantial
• BUILT IN: 2004 PROJECT DATA
subterranean retail facilities Project Completion:
• CLIMATE: Humid
within the context of a new GFA :130,073 sqm Phase 1, Riverfront Buildings:
subtropical climate
one kilometre long public October 2009
• CRUISE VESSELS IN 2014: Total Area : 263,448 sqm
park. Credits: Phase 2 , High Rise Tower &
250
• PASSENGERS HANDLED IN Architecture, Landscape, and Winter Garden: April 2010
2014: 500 000 including the Interior Design: Spark Cruise Terminal Support
passenger port, Shanghai Design Director: John Curran Facilities:
International Port Group Engineer: Arup Hong Kong Public Facilities,
Building, and some Façade Engineer: RFR Paris Entertainment, Retail, F&B:
corresponding business Lighting Consultant: Lighting 20% GFA
establishments. Design Partners Commercial Offices: 80% GFA
SHANGHAI PORT INTERNATIONAL CRUISE TERMINAL
SITE PLAN
NO. SPACE USAGE

1. OFFICE PAVILIONS

2. PUBLIC WATER
GARDEN
3. PUBLIC GALLERY

4. PUBLIC
PERFORMANCE
5. MEDIA GARDEN

6. FOOD COURT

7. PUBLIC PARK

8. PHASE 2 TOWERS
 F
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FIRST FLOOR

P
L
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S
SECOND FLOOR
 F
L
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THIRD FLOOR

P
L
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FOURTH FLOOR S
SPARCH’s challenge was how to deal with the ‘under world’ as well as the architecture rising out of it. Their solution
was to create ambiguity as to where the ground plane is, by opening up a honeycomb of sunken courtyards. The six
cruise shiphead quarter buildings appear to disappear into these sculpted holes, providing abundant opportunities to
explore connections between the ground and ‘lower ground’ levels. The concept also explored the idea of ripples in
the landscape being amplified into standing crystal waves that wrap over the buildings. This augmented over time
into a second skin that protects the commercial office spaces from their due south orientation, and is populated with
semi outdoor balcony spaces overlooking the Huangpu River.

SECTION ACROSS THE SEVEN TOWERS

This development also represents a first in Shanghai for
sustainability, incorporating ‘River Water Cooling Technology’ –
utilising water from the Huang Pu River as a refrigerant to cool
and thereby greatly reduce the buildings’ energy consumption
during the summer months.
EXTERIORS
The glass facades peel out
along the base to shelter a
pedestrian route along the
newly formed public park. 400-
metre long herringbone steel
and glass skin. The facade is
12,000m2 of post-tensioned
glass, a visually delicate double
skin that has an important
environmentally sustainable
role to play. Due to the
southern exposure of the site,
the wave facade, which
contains an integrated dot
matrix pattern, shades the
interior spaces during the
summer and prevents glare
during the winter, whilst
opening up panoramic views
towards the waterfront.
 Inside the Wave Facades,
INTERIORS forming winter garden spaces
The interiors of these six populated with colorful
buildings more or less follow balconies, to become
the concept of the exterior 'hanging gardens‘. Vibrant
landscaping and architecture. colors, voids and various
They consist of elements which textures, materials, patterns
seem as sculpted holes which and lines constitute part of
appear and disappear, just like the interiors. The concoction
the exterior landscaping where of materials and colors
by law 50% of the terminal is creates the fun, loving diverse
required to be above ground environment.
level and the other 50 below.

The concoction of materials Egg-like sculpted forms create

and colors creates the fun, part of the voids in the
loving diverse environment buildings which have glass
which SPARCH wanted to ceilings thus allowing
approach in their design in abundant of natural light into
order to make this the buildings; another
architecture a reality element of sustainable design
according to the needs of rather than using artificial
their client. lighting.
 All six office pavilions contain ventilated atria, topped with louvered skylights. During mid-season, air
circulates through the facades across the office spaces towards the central atrium where it exhausts at the
top. Pixelated window openings across the office façades provide local comfort cooling. Large doors open
onto generous balconies along the south side, within a double skin façade, overlooking the Huang Pu River.
The outer skin contains a solar shading frit to protect the interiors from their due south orientation.
AMBIENCE
The riverfront faces the city, and
illuminates at night into a herring
bone array of delicate curved masts
that visually tie the pavilion buildings
together. An intriguing gap appears in
the middle – a glazed table top
supports a spell binding composition
of pods swimming through space on
a web of cables. One, two and four-
storey pods contain cafes, bars,
restaurants and public exhibition
spaces, floating over a public
performance space below. The Client
-having considered schemes put
forward by 3 other international
architects, believed there was a
symbiosis between Shanghai’s fun
loving desire for diversity, and
SPARCH’s approach to design, that
has made this architecture a reality.
SUSTAINIBILITY
Through this development and with
the concept “Better City, Better
Life,” the construction called for a
sustainable, environmental friendly
design. The double second skin
façade apart from being an
appealing design element also acts
as a filter which traps UV heat from
entering the buildings in the
summer whilst during the winter
months it performs the activities of
an insulating blanket. Further on,
the buildings incorporate River
Water Cooling Technology – which
utilizes water from the Huang Pu
River as a refrigerant to cool and
thereby greatly reduce the
buildings’ energy consumption
during the summer months.
SHANGHAI CHANDELIER
If the terminal’s sheer scale doesn’t leave you awestruck - this is a piece of
city-making that encompasses a wide strip of waterfront parkland, a vast
underground car park, and an art gallery, as well as office space - its center
piece structure will. Though not yet complete, it has already been named the
‘Shanghai Chandelier’ because of its unusual form. And it’s the “first
suspended cable structure of its type in the world”.
The chandeliers were developed as a response to its constraint site. Two
traffic tunnels run beneath middle of the site, mainly wouldn’t be able to sink
the spans that they needed to support the building in its position. Initially
SPARK designed the structure that bridged the area in the intention of using
the space beneath the public facilities. From there came the idea of
suspending the (chandeliers) bobs within the seventh storey frame.
SECTION ACROSS THE SEVENTH TOWER CONTAINING THE CHANDELIERS AND ITS FRAMING STRUCTURE.
 “CULTURAL AND
AND
SOCIAL SPACES
SPACES
FORM THE CENTRE
CENTRE
PIECE OF THE
DEVELOPMENT-
DEVELOPMENT- AN AN
EXTRAORDINARY
EXTRAORDINARY
COMPOSITION
COMPOSITION OFOF
SUSPENDED
SUSPENDED
ENCLOSURES
NAMED THE
SHANGHAI
SHANGHAI
CHANDELIER”
CHANDELIER”

Three inhabitable amorphous blobs -suspended with cable within a 40m-tall, glass-clad portal that creates a dramatic city
stage addressing the public park and the waterfront, where thousands of people can gather to participate in festivals.
 C
O
N
C
L
U
S
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All six buildings which constitute this architectural development offer a diverse mixture of business and leisure facilities for
the end-users at the Shanghai International Cruise Terminal, aiming at establishing Shanghai’s status as an essential
commerce and tourism center. The interiors of these six buildings more or less follow the concept of the exterior landscaping
and architecture. They consist of elements which seem as sculpted holes which appear and disappear, just like the exterior
landscaping where by law 50 percent of the terminal is required to be above ground level and the other 50 below. Vibrant
colors, voids and various textures, materials, patterns and lines constitute part of the interiors. Egg-like sculpted forms create
part of the voids in the buildings which have glass ceilings thus allowing abundant of natural light into the buildings; another
element of sustainable design rather than using artificial lighting.