Continuation Studio for Vanke Future Town

The Chinese architects from Continuation Studio have designed the Sales Exhibition Centre for Vanke Future Town in Xuzhou, China. The architecture has been crafted on the basis of its future use as the community centre for the new urban settlement.


The city of Xuzhou, in Jiangsu province in northeast China, has a population of eight million. Given the fact that it keeps growing, the project for Vanke Future Town was created in the stunning natural environment of Lake Yunlong, southwest of the city centre. 
This new township is going up on an area of more than one million square metres, constructed by Vanke, a leading Chinese developer. The first buildings have already been completed as examples for prospective buyers who are greeted in the Sales Exhibition Centre designed by Continuation Studio.
Once it is no longer required for this purpose, the building will be turned into the community centre of the new town, so its structure and proportions respond both to the “old” city and to the new functions. This has been achieved by bringing together the smallest and most fragmented spaces in the east wing of the new complex and giving the main volume an open plan design so it can be used as the location for future community events and exhibitions, enclosed by glass curtain walls.
This display window effect both improves the connection between indoors and out and underscores the building's public character. It is also being used to showcase the focal point of the project by Continuation Studio for the Sales Exhibition Centre of Vanke Future Town. This is a bridge, architecture that is very close to the hearts of the architects themselves, as well as being cherished as a traditional vernacular construction. The bridge has been innovatively designed with a steel tube structure and different lengths of timber boards, up to 6 metres long. Visitors can enjoy this work - crafted by Chinese artisans - from underneath and see its reflection in the body of water facing the main volume. 
With the bridge as an engineering work of art, Continuation Studio references the strength of Vanke and creates strong ties with the territory and the people from here with a tangible link between past and future under the roof of the new community centre of this future town

Christiane Bürklein

Architects: Continuation Studio
Lead Architects: Fan Jiu-Jiang, Zhai Wen-Ting, Yu Kai, Shen Feng-Jia, Dong Run-Jin(intern)
Location: Xuzhou, Jiangsu
Area: Approx. 1200㎡ (incl. 600㎡Exhibition Centre)
Year: 2017   
Client: China Vanke Co., Ltd. (Xuzhou Branch)
Consultants: Shanghai Wansheng Architectural Design Consultant
Landscape Designer: Guangzhou S.P.I Landscape Group
Interior Designer: VVS Architect (Shanghai Branch)
Lighting Designer: Shanghai Pinguang Lighting Design
Technical Drawings: Jiangsu Huasheng Architectural Design
Timber Structure EngineerZytimber (Shanghai) 
Curtain Wall Designer: Shanghai Anxun Exterior Wall Engineering Design, Forster Engineering Consulting (Nanjing)
Curtain Wall Construction: Jiangsu HWA Curtain Wall Building
Photographs: SHIROMIO Studio