Hangzhou Hangzhou Cloud Valley TOD

Cloud Valley TOD is a transit-oriented development in Hangzhou's Yuhang District, designed by Superimpose Architecture (Carolyn Leung, Ben de Lange and Ruben Bergambagt) for Hangzhou Vanke and Hangzhou Metro Group. It sits inside Sky City, the 1,000,000-square-metre SOM-master-planned mixed-use campus developed jointly by Vanke and the metro operator, home to regional headquarters of major Chinese e-commerce firms and often described as Hangzhou's future Silicon Valley. Cloud Valley's site lies along the district's main road and comprises two Grade-A office towers with retail at ground level plus four standalone office buildings, directly connected to Wuchang Metro station. Superimpose won the competition by carefully integrating pedestrian routes and cultivating distinctive green architecture. The design exploits a government-designated public green belt on the south side, turning part of it into an open sunken green ribbon that links to the metro hall as a natural extension, and pulling daylight into the basement so that commuters move from subway to street through a green, smooth transition. From basement level to the third floor, the design adopts a valley metaphor: staggered terraces project from the towers, creating comfortable semi-outdoor rooms at lower levels and shade at street level; stairs and escalators are strategically placed within the valley to connect the basement, upper floors and a third-floor sky bridge leading to adjacent cultural facilities. Upper floors take the cloud metaphor, expressed as a calmer facade of repeated vertical elements using ventilated perforated aluminium panels. Two office towers embed glass-box floors at mid-height through a shifting mass that bisects the towers, animating the facade, admitting light and offering non-standard floor plates suited to open offices, product display and events. Completed in 2018, the 72,000-square-metre building (within a 155,000-square-metre planning site) is designed with Zhejiang Industrial Design Institute, Yu Qiang Interior Design, Chengdu Zuoyi Lighting and Yixiang Landscape, and achieved LEED Neighborhood Development platinum certification.