maple leaf plaza

This project aims to unify a commercial arcade, an office building, and a hotel into one cohesive micro-community within one structure. To fit the required spaces adequately while still taking into account the comfort and needs of the users proved to be a challenging exercise considering the relatively small building footprint.

A primary consideration of the design was how to encourage foot traffic for a development that had no choice but to increase its commercial area vertically. Focus on movement then became a key concept for the building. Consistently visible walkways, driveways, and bridges encourage intuitive wayfinding and provide users a strong sense of direction. Through its semi-open design, visual connections can be made from various points in the building, adding to the ease of navigation.

Taking the site’s vantage points into consideration, the podium is turned into a canvas for our undulating louvers which aside from serving as sun-shade, creates visual depth and interacts with passersby – reinforcing the concept of movement even from the outside.⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀