HUB Performance & Exhibition Centre in Shanghai by Neri&Hu

Designed by Neri&Hu, HUB mixed-use development sits in the heart of Hongqiao District in Shanghai. The highlight of the complex is the Performance and Exhibition Centre, envisioned as the “hot spot” of culture and arts for the vibrant new neighbourhood.

The interior concept draws inspiration from the landscape, creating a nature-like environment that provides retreat from the heavily built context and visual overload of contemporary culture. The performance centre interior is perceived as a five-story urban oasis in the form of as a solid rock set inside the exterior envelope; spaces are carved out and programmatic elements inserted. Visitors arriving from the subway station find themselves walking into an underground space, with the ceiling covered in metal tubes mimicking the roots of the forest above.

A dramatic escalator tunnel with deep ceiling coves brings one out of the ground and into the primary exhibition hall. A floating canopy of timber sticks hovering over the three-story atrium transforms the space into a forest. Gallery openings are wrapped in interlocking solid sandstone and light walnut balustrades.

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Wherever a visitor is, their role as the spectator and the partaker of a performance on stage is constantly alternating as one meanders along the cavernous galleries and bridges. Hidden above at the upper levels is the treasure box – a 750-seat performance hall with a floating golden lantern inside. One can discover other delightful spaces carved into the sandstone mass throughout – golden toilet cubicles; cigar room, salon, and bars as timber houses inserted into the rock; halls of mirror in black-glazed tiles with green toilet rooms; bronze lift interiors; private VIP rooms dressed in hand-painted tiles that narrate the story of Hongqiao District’s humble past; and a golden trellis inside the VIP Lounge dotted with intricately crafted pendant lights.

In Kevin Lynch’s Image of the City, he describes: “Moving elements in a city, and in particular the people and their activities, are as important as the stationary physical parts. We are not simply observers of this spectacle, but are ourselves a part of it, on the stage with the other participants.” The ongoing events and visitors that inhabit this urban oasis, together with the designed spatial elements, bring a transformative and invigorating life to the Shanghai neighbourhood in the making.