OVER THE RAINBOW

Over the Rainbow is an eye-catching rooftop renovation in Changsha, the capital and largest city of Hunan Province, designed to activate an unused terrace on a commercial building as part of a larger renovation project at the Beichen Delta Joy City in Kaifu District. The rooftop aims to create a trendy outdoor social hub, a gathering point and leisure space with privileged views over the Xiang River, aimed at young people and families visiting the mall. Taking advantage of the rooftop's arched shape, the designers laid parallel colored stripes across the ground, enhancing the curve to form a rainbow of interactive functions. Each stripe is a different color and hosts specific activities that encourage social interaction through leisure and play. The stripes begin as two-dimensional floor graphics guiding circulation, and at certain points rise into three-dimensional urban furniture, play structures, and leisure objects. Some stripes lift to form a large open amphitheater facing the Xiang River; others extend vertically into capsule houses that grab attention as selfie and social-media spots. The amphitheater is crowned with the project's most recognizable IP image, the I love Changsha logo. To push the rooftop fun to the extreme, the team designed a 12-meter spiral slide connecting the sixth-floor rooftop to the fifth-floor terrace. Altogether, the intervention enhances and stimulates visitors' sensory experience and creates a colorful, exciting social hub on top of the mall.