△ City synchronization © Path Architecture Photography
The Lai’an Community Center, recently completed in Fengdong New City along the western extension of Xi’an’s central axis, serves as a vital urban node. Fengdong New City is situated on the alluvial plain of the Wei River in Guanzhong, bordered by the Wei River to the north and the Qinling Mountains to the south. This area plays a leading role in integrating western China with Xi’an and aims to build an ecological international new city infused with Eastern cultural characteristics. As an emerging district, it has become a significant economic growth engine for Xi’an’s urban development.
Designed by Jiang Ping, Chief Architect of EID Architecture, the Lai’an Community Center is located at the core of Fengdong New City. It not only serves the local community but also acts as a catalyst for activating the surrounding new urban areas. This project recently received the AIA (American Institute of Architects) China Annual Excellent Design Award.
Inclusive and open civic spaces © Path Architecture Photography
Amidst the rapid urbanization in contemporary China, many new urban areas lack distinctive public spaces that foster community identity and neighborhood belonging. Recent urban planning discussions, influenced by landmark declarations like the Quito Declaration and the principles of landscape urbanism, call for a deeper understanding of the city’s complexity, incompleteness, and permeability. These approaches advocate embracing diversity and hybridity found in daily urban life, emphasizing vibrant streets and neighborhood experiences.
The Lai’an Community Center in Xi’an’s Fengdong district addresses this by vertically organizing diverse building functions. This creates a porous and permeable urban interface that maximizes public and civic spaces, offering an open, inclusive, and multi-dimensional community experience.
Porous and permeable urban interface © Path Architecture Photography
Multidimensional community space © Path Architecture Photography
Multi-layered boundaries: creating an inclusive and open civic space
The concept of the ‘Floating Gate’ transcends the traditional idea of a community center. It acts as an inclusive, open portal to the community, naturally extending the urban public space along one side of the city’s central axis. Positioned at the community entrance square north of the tree-lined avenue, the building’s organic ground floor form defines an iconic “Cloud Gate” that welcomes visitors. This sculptural lower volume creates a transparent interface, featuring a sloping escalator that connects the lower level directly to the elevated second floor, collectively forming the formal entry and exit elements.
By emphasizing the community entrance, the design delivers a striking architectural statement, presenting a visually compelling and unique community building.
Concept generation
△ Floating Gate © Path Architecture Photography
© Path Architecture Photography
△ Entrance to Community Center © Instant Photography
Time Tunnel © Instant Photography
The architects emphasize openness and inclusivity by elevating the above-ground space to create a transparent, lightweight “floating door.” This transition from everyday open public spaces to dedicated community spaces extends urban public nodes and frees up more open areas for public use. The central “boundary,” referred to as the “border,” transforms the physical separation between traditional residential zones and urban spaces into a porous, permeable urban interface. This boundary defines the relationship between city and community in an open, inviting, and inclusive manner, fostering greater integration and interaction within community life.
The transition from urban squares to community spaces © Hu Yijie
The integration of urban and community spaces © Hu Yijie
Community Home: Daily Life Experiences
The Lai’an Community Center combines civic functions with daily community needs, connecting spaces vertically across above-ground and underground levels. The sunken courtyard accommodates daily activities such as sports, fitness, early education, and after-school programs for children. The second floor houses civic spaces, including community service centers, cultural exhibition areas, and multifunctional halls.
The ground floor blends the naturally undulating landscape of the community with the sculptural lower volume of the building, forming a sequence of orderly, layered public spaces that contrast with the solid organic base.
△ Community Home Living Scene
△ Open public space © Path Architecture Photography
View back towards the city square from community space © Path Architecture Photography
△ Bird’s-eye view of the courtyard © Hu Yijie
The open area beneath the building enhances connectivity between the city and the community. By suspending the second floor, the Lai’an Community Center frees up more open and landscaped public space, creating an inviting place for leisure and community activities. This design also provides weather protection for pedestrians, shielding them from harsh conditions while active in the square.
The porous urban interface encourages public engagement with the landscape. The diverse micro-topography of the entrance plaza, combined with shallow water pools, draws people from surrounding areas to freely enter and circulate beneath the activity center at any time.
Pedestrian-friendly neighborhood space © Path Architecture Photography
© Path Architecture Photography
Organic Form and Flowing Space
This sculptural building establishes a highly recognizable architectural identity for Fengdong New City. The contrast between the complex organic forms at the base and the simple volumes above draws inspiration from the duality in traditional Chinese architecture, seamlessly integrating human intervention with the natural environment.
Integration of human intervention with the natural environment
The building’s functions connect above-ground and underground spaces, emphasizing spatial transitions and varied experiences. Entering through the “Cloud Gate,” visitors pass through an oval-shaped sunken courtyard designed in a simple, Zen style. This courtyard creates a lively scene imbued with Eastern artistic sensibilities, offering a harmonious layering where the entrance courtyard complements the sunken courtyard, enriching the “return home” experience.
Underground spaces dedicated to children’s early education, leisure, and fitness are arranged around the sunken courtyard, allowing ample natural light to penetrate indoors.
Sunken courtyard with a serene, Zen-like atmosphere © Instant Photography
△ Community Activity Center © Hu Yijie
The interior design embraces open-plan and flowing spatial concepts to foster interaction and communication among residents. The multifunctional exhibition hall on the second floor offers flexible configurations to accommodate various activities. Once operational, the Lai’an Community Center will provide citizens with diverse, engaging experiences that encourage neighborly interaction and dialogue.
△ Sunken courtyard © Hu Yijie
△ Lounge © Instant Photography
△ Front Desk © Instant Photography
Architectural Concepts Integrated with Structural Expression
The building’s suspended main structure utilizes a steel frame and support system, achieving a maximum overhang of 12 meters. Beyond the impressive cantilever, the design demands a transparent and lightweight second floor. Throughout the structural design phase, architects and engineers collaborated closely to balance functional requirements, roof load, cost efficiency, and user comfort.
They engaged in iterative discussions addressing contour design, enclosure materials, and structural systems, striving to harmonize the building’s conceptual expression with optimal structural performance.
△ Structural analysis diagram
Blending Digital Fabrication with Local Craftsmanship
The building’s base is crafted from GFRC (Glass Fiber Reinforced Concrete) to realize its complex, corrugated hyperbolic shape and distinctive skin texture. Over 200 GFRC panels, each with unique curved surfaces, were precisely cut and positioned using advanced CNC technology originally designed for MDF boards.
A flexible 2cm-diameter poplar strip forms the hyperbolic corrugated mold, which is refined through processes of atomic ash plastering and polishing to achieve a smooth reverse mold. Concrete and fiberglass are then sprayed simultaneously to create GFRC panels approximately 2cm thick. After 12 hours, the mold is removed, revealing the finished panel.
The heavy, textured appearance of the GFRC concrete evokes the city’s historical layers and connects deeply with the cultural context of Xi’an.
△ Softened concrete skin texture © Path Architecture Photography
△ Architectural details © Instant Photography
GFRC wood mold workshop © EID Architecture
The prefabricated steel structure, GFRC panels, and glass components were pre-assembled in workshops, significantly reducing construction time while minimizing carbon emissions, wastewater, and dust. The project effectively incorporates local natural resources, including climate and materials, to enhance indoor comfort.
The transparent first-floor design encourages natural ventilation, facilitating heat dissipation and creating shaded, cool spaces—a feature highly praised during construction and use, especially given Xi’an’s extreme summer heat. The thoughtful functional layout and building interface allow both above-ground and underground spaces to benefit from abundant natural light.
© Path Architecture Photography
△ Curtain Wall Details © Hu Yijie
△ Construction site © EID Architecture
Blending Contemporary Construction with Historical Elements
The Lai’an Community Center design masterfully integrates Xi’an’s historical context with modern construction techniques, preserving urban memory while projecting a forward-looking urban identity. The design responds to the rich cultural heritage of Xi’an and the vitality of the new city district, balancing historical architectural context with a futuristic form.
Where the simple volumes of high-rise buildings reflect the rational grid pattern of Xi’an’s ancient city, the building’s organic base seamlessly blends with the natural undulating landscape. The center blurs boundaries between architecture and landscape, as if the building organically grows from the terrain.
The elevated cultural exhibition and community service spaces, together with the integrated civic square and sunken community activity courtyard, create layered, multidimensional daily life scenes. Architecture and landscape work in harmony to foster community interaction and shape a vibrant urban landscape along Xi’an’s central urban axis extension.
△ Night view © Path Architecture Photography
© Yang Hui
Models and Drawings
△ Model 1
△ Model 2
△ General layout plan
△ Underground Floor Plan
△ First floor plan
△ Second floor plan
△ Roof Plan
△ Section A-A
△ Section B-B
△ Exterior Wall Detail 1
△ Exterior Wall Detail 2
Project Information:
Location: Xi’an, China
Owner: Shaanxi Wanlai Real Estate Co., Ltd
Design Date: July 2019
Construction Date: August 2020
Building Area: 4,500 square meters
Project Type: Community Center
Design Firm: Jiang Ping | EID Architecture
Lead Architect: Jiang Ping, AIA
Design Team: Bao Jialu, Lu Shengyun, Yu Jinjing, Li Hong, Xu Wei, Wang Chengyang, Cheng Yixuan
Architectural Partner / MEP Consultant: Sichuan Zhouyu Architectural Design Co., Ltd
Structural Consultant: Shanghai Yuangui Architectural Structural Design Firm / Shaanxi Taixin Steel Structure Engineering Co., Ltd
Interior Design Consultant: Water Phase Design Co., Ltd. / Shenzhen Feiyan Interior Design Firm
Landscape Design: Guangzhou Shanshui Bide Design Co., Ltd
GFRC Construction: Shaanxi Meixinchuang Materials Technology Co., Ltd
Curtain Wall Consultant: Shanghai Inheritance Bohua Architectural Planning and Design Co., Ltd
Photography: Path Architecture Photography / Moment Photography / Hu Yijie / Yang Hui
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