Construction starts on Chinese “skin and bones” fashion centre

Construction has started on MAD Architects’ design centre for international fashion group Xinhee in the Chinese coastal city of Xiamen.  

The Beijing-based studio has said it "envisions it as a building with skin and bones; the correspondence of clothing and architecture is that they both explore the relationship between the interior and the exterior".  

The project has a site area of 15,000 and a building area of 61,000 square metres.  

The Xinhee Design Centre has an atrium at its core, with six long structures extending out from it to create a star of "bones". These "organically formed" projections mix office spaces and gardens.  

The structure will give each of Xinhee’s six subsidiary brands their own individual office and research space.  

The skin is provided by an "elegant and floating" translucent facade that surrounds a vertical garden. 

Ma Yansong, MAD’s founder, said: "It’s interesting for a building with such an intrinsically logical structure to look floating and free."  

The building will contain a public atrium with a footbridge that provides air circulation and doubles as a catwalk for occasional fashion shows. 

The Xinhee design center is expected open in 2017.  

Images via MAD Architects