Lilong Arcade Centro Comunitario by Jiahua Xu

Lilong Arcade Centro Comunitario by Jiahua Xu is a highly esteemed winner of the very prestigious 2025 A' Design Award de Bronce in Deseño de Arquitectura, Edificación e Estruturas Competition Category.

BronceArquitectura· 2025

Lilong Arcade Centro Comunitario

by Jiahua Xu

Client: Archtic

A' Design Award de Bronce Winner in Arquitectura Category

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Verified Award Winner
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View at A' Design Award Press Release Award Badge

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The Design

About Lilong Arcade Centro Comunitario

O Centro Comunitario Lilong Arcade reinterpreta o tradicional beco lilong de Shanghai e o espazo da arcada como un lugar público moderno. O deseño crea áreas abertas, flexibles e de fácil acceso para reunións comunitarias, actividades cotiás, exposicións e intercambio social. Respecta a memoria urbana local e a escala humana, ao tempo que ofrece un lugar claro e contemporáneo para o uso cultural, a conexión veciñal e a vida pública.

The Recognition

About the A' Design Award de Bronce

Lilong Arcade Centro Comunitario gañou o A' Design Award de Bronce, un recoñecemento altamente prestixioso outorgado a deseños sobresaíntes que se distinguen pola creatividade, o enxeño e a sagacidade. Os gañadores Bronce son artefactos amplamente hábiles e sorprendentemente creativos que autentican a vasta experiencia, imaxinación e enxeño dos seus deseñadores. Espérase que Lilong Arcade Centro Comunitario sexa un obxecto moi apreciado, admirado e querido, notablemente profesional e innovador. Este deseño gañador do A' Design Award de Bronce incorpora as mellores prácticas da arte, a ciencia, o deseño e a tecnoloxía, e é excelente pola súa atención ao detalle. Lilong Arcade Centro Comunitario satisfai espléndidamente as necesidades, toca os desexos, encanta os sentimentos e atrae a curiosidade.

Behind the Design

Press Kit

Credits, team members and technical details provided by the designer.

Unique Properties: "Lilong Arcade" embraces the concept of integrating public spaces with historical features while meeting modern needs.
Flexible layouts maximize space usage, blending fixed and mobile areas to accommodate diverse community needs.
The facade design marries historical elements with modern materials, maintaining harmony with the surrounding architecture while creating a welcoming, vibrant environment that supports public engagement.
Dimensions & Packaging: Plot area:937m²

Gross Floor Area: 1677m²

Overall outdoor activity: 478.6m²

Citizen activity center: 154.6m²
F&B Retail: 202.5m²
Elderly activity center: 110.3m²
Healthcare: 288.5m²
Children's activity and Daycare: 374.3m²
Sports: 288.5m²
Flexible: 258.4m²
Tags: community, social, civic, activity, wellness, urban, historic district, flexibility
Production Technology: Since the reconstruction cannot break through the existing building 3D boundary, the original building height is reused in accordance with the principle of economy and practicality.
The small column span shallow beam are used to achieve span of 4.5-6 meters.
An atrium is set inside the building to enhance the lighting while eliminating the sense of space cramped.
The visual corridor perpendicular to Main Road naturally extends to the depths of the base, leading the direction of the axis network system.
Design Challenge: Since the reconstruction cannot break through the three-dimensional boundary, the building height cannot be greatly increased. As for the problem of insufficient building height (about 3.5 meters), the small column span shallow beam and partial height treatment are used to achieve: the conventional column span is 4.5-6 meters, and the local span is increased to enhance the permeability of the space.
Research: The project is located in Changning District, Shanghai, with a profound cultural heritage of foreign culture and local traditions.

The facade of the project building adopts a modern eclectic arcade form, which pays tribute to the traditional style. The arcade not only gives the building a timeless beauty, but also increases the transparency by providing a gray space for citizens to interact.

The exterior wall of the building adopts light-colored bricks to be unified with the surrounding style, the floor-to-ceiling glass windows fill the interior space with natural light, enhancing the openness and transparency of the building.
Inspiration: The design concept of "Lilong Arcade" aims to adopt the "arcade", an architectural motif with publicness and sharing, to integrate historical features while showing the contemporaryity, making the building a natural extension of the walkable street system.
The project revolves around the principles of serving the people, adapting to local conditions, and flexible adaptation, creating a rich and high-quality service and activity space for citizens in the limited existing space.
Project Duration: The project started in April 2024 in Shanghai and finished in August 2024
Operation Flow: To fully realize the functionality of various spaces in the limited space, a combination of fixed space + flexible space is adopt. That is, in addition to the spaces that rely on equipment such as the service center, community canteen, ect, most of the activities and learning places are optimized into flex spaces through operation. This not only helps the space allocation within the project, but also helps promote the fair and efficient allocation of public resources.