![](https://www.globalconstructionreview.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/mall1-scaled.jpg)
A shopping centre designed by Dutch architect UNStudio and Japan’s Nihon Sekkei has is now open for business in Shanghai.
The 120,000 sq m Shanghai Jiuguang Centre will be the largest retail complex in the north of the city. Its design is an allusion to a pearl set within a shell, with a tessellated exterior facade and a sunken central courtyard.
![](https://www.globalconstructionreview.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/mall2-scaled.jpg)
Three distinct internal voids, an “oasis”, a “catwalk” and a “playground”, are located on the perimeter of the courtyard to help visitors to orientate themselves.
![](https://www.globalconstructionreview.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/mall3-scaled.jpg)
A series of balconies blur the distinction between interior and exterior and are clad in pearlescent ceramic tiles, with sunlight picking out different areas of the facade throughout the day.
![](https://www.globalconstructionreview.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/mall4-scaled.jpg)
Ben van Berkel, UNStudio founder, said: “Shopping malls are the public spaces of Chinese cities. These retail complexes are not simply places to shop, they are all-in-one destinations for outings and social gatherings. They are also places where culture and commerce merge and where architecture can express this expansive condition.”