Kengo Kuma. Shipyard 1862, Shanghai

Kengo Kuma has transformed an old shipyard in Shanghai’s Lujiazui financial district in Pudong into a new multi-use complex. The 1972 building featured large interior spaces for holding ships, which has now been converted into a 9,000 square meter mixed-use complex, named “Shipyard 1862.” During the massive refurbishment project, Kuma has preserved the structural and material integrity of the building. On the West façade, large clay bricks in different shades of red are suspended by eight millimetre steel cables creating a pixelated gradient brick system, which recalls the old structure in a contemporary way. The architect says: “materiality transcends beyond the visual experience, as it requires all five senses of the human body to engage it, to remember it.”