MVRDV has transformed an old mixed-use tower into a vibrant and colourful women and children’s centre in Shenzhen, China. 

Named Shenzhen Women & Children’s Centre, the 57,900-square-metre tower consists of the Women & Children’s Centre, offices, a hotel, and retail spaces.

The 100-metre-tall tower houses a wide range of facilities for the welfare of women and children, including a library, an auditorium, a children’s theatre and “discovery hall”, as well as therapy rooms and offices for staff. 

Thanks to its colourful façade, the building stands as a refreshing presence in Shenzhen’s Futian district; more importantly, according to MVRDV, "the building sets an important precedent for repurposing buildings in a city that is soon to see a “great wave of adaptive reuse."

Originally completed in 1994, the tower formed part of Shenzhen’s first period of explosive growth. "The rushed approach to its original design was immediately clear: due to persistent fire safety concerns, the commercial units in the plinth were not opened until 2002, and the tower itself remained empty indefinitely," said MVRDV.

By adopting the changing needs of the building’s users, the structure now fell short of environmental requirements, and in 2019 it was understood that the building did not serve its purpose.

Owing to China’s commitment to achieving carbon peaking (2030) and carbon neutrality (2060), the building was selected as one of 24 model examples of revitalisation by the National Development and Reform Commission.

In the design process, MVRDV adopted a comprehensive transformation approach to rectify the building’s problems. The firm preserved the majority of the structure to be reused - as this would allow more sustainable approach rather than demolishing and rebuilding. 

A new, colorful gridded façade is the most visible element of this transformation; the façade is made up of a grid of multi-coloured exterior frames that increase the depth of the façade to a full metre.

"These frames provide extra shading to reduce thermal heat gain, and also incorporate openable panels on the inside that allow for natural ventilation – thus increasing occupants’ comfort and reducing the building’s reliance on air conditioning," said MVRDV. 

The design also transforms multiple elements of the building. For example, an elliptical-shaped crown on the top floor provides cover for a large accessible terrace offering a 360-degree panorama of the neighbourhood below. 

The courtyard, which was originally used for car parking, has been converted into a public space with a food court. The entrance to the city’s metro, which previously cluttered the pavement outside, has been moved inside the building to better connect it to public transit networks and reinforce the transition away from car-dependence.

The studio achieved the transformation by saving approximately 24,000 cubic metres of concrete from the original structure, meaning that "a reuse resulting in a carbon saving equivalent to 11,800 flights from Amsterdam to Shenzhen."

The team also made small additions to the structure, filling in some of the original design’s awkward geometry to create simple, efficient floorplans.

"The Shenzhen Women & Children’s Centre could be a pioneering project for Shenzhen," said MVRDV founding partner Jacob van Rijs.

"With the city’s fast-paced growth, many existing buildings were not really designed to have a long lifespan." 

"That is a recipe for either an epidemic of demolition or, ideally, a great wave of adaptive reuse. Showing that even the most inadequate of these structures can be reused could save a crazy amount of concrete going to landfill – and eliminate millions of tonnes of carbon emissions that would have been created replacing that concrete," Van Rijs added.

The colourful palette of the façade includes yellow, orange, pink, and green – which helps to communicate the building’s layout. 

The tower is raised on a multicoloured plinth which clearly advertises its function as a service centre for mothers and their children. A hotel function is placed on the tower, and these colours give way to a more neutral white. 

On the ground floor, the design team provides four primary entrances to the complex - in which are each highlighted by a concentration of a different colour. According to the firm, through these idfferent colors, visitors easily navigate within the building.

The main lobby is also enriched with this colourful and communicative approach. Here, a structure of nine “rooms” hosts diverse functions that together form a playground-like space for children to enhance their enjoyment during a visit. 

The joyful colours of this structure reinforce the building’s purpose as a space where children are given priority.

Building concept diagram overview

Building concept diagram-01

Building concept diagram-02

Building concept diagram-03

Building concept diagram-04

Building concept diagram-06

Building concept diagram-07

Building concept diagram-08

Facade color schemes

East elevation

West elevation

MVRDV and The Why Factory recently opened an exhibition in Hangzhou, imagining the world as plant-covered and integrated cities. 

The firm also completed a "geology-inspired sustainable tower" in San Francisco's Mission Rock and built a demountable office and laboratory in the heart of Amsterdam Science Park, in which over 90 per cent of the building's materials can be recycled and reused.

MVRDV was set up in 1993 in Rotterdam, The Netherlands by Winy Maas, Jacob van Rijs and Nathalie de Vries. 

MVRDV has four satellite offices in Shanghai, Paris, Berlin, and New York and engages globally in providing solutions to contemporary architectural and urban issues.

Project facts

Project Name: Shenzhen Women & Children’s Centre 

Location: Futian District, Shenzhen, China

Year: 2019–2023

Client: Shum Yip Group Limited

Architect: MVRDV

Founding Partner in charge: Jacob van Rijs

Partner: Wenchian Shi

Director MVRDV Asia: Steven Smit, Peter Chang

Design Team: Lorenzo Mattozzi, Marco Gazzola, Giuseppe Mazzaglia, Daehee Suk, Fredy Fortich, Chi Zhang, Bertrand Tan, Siyi Pan, Albert Parfonov, Andrius Ribikauskas, Enrica Perrot, Martina Franco, Jiameng Li, Agnieszka Dabek, Paula Vargas Torres, Elisa Paneni, Peter Chang, Luca Xu, Hong Yang, Echo Zhai, Zhang Ruochen, Leo Zhang, Huang Cai, Peilu Chen, Xiaoliang Yu, Americo Iannazzone, Yihong Chen, Kefei Yan, Edvan Ardianto.

Interiors & Landscape Design: Lorenzo Mattozzi, Fokke Moerel, Pim Bangert, Giovanni Nardi, Daehee Suk, Jiameng Li, Bertrand Tan, Paula Vargas Torres, Luca Xu

MVRDV NEXT: Boudewijn Thomas, Yayun Liu, Changqing Ye

Project coordination: Jammy Zhu

Visualisations: Antonio Luca Coco, Angelo La Delfa, Pavlos Ventouris, Francesco Vitale, Luana La Martina, Jaroslaw Jeda, Emanuele Fortunati

Partners

Co-architect / Landscape architect / MEP: SZAD

Project coordination: Shenzhen Women & Children's Building Operation and Management Co.,Ltd.

Facade Consultant: KGE (King Glass Engineering)

Structural engineer: Yuanlizhu Engineering Consultants (Shenzhen) Co.,Ltd.

Lighting Consultant: BPI (Brandston Partnership Inc.)

Cost calculation: Jinxia Property Cost Consultation Co.,Ltd.

Interior architect: Jiang & Associates

All images © Xia Zhi.

All drawings © MVRDV.

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