Phoenix Valley

  • WUJIN,
    CHINA
  • Completion Date
    2013
  • Client
    Wujin District People’s Government
  • Cost
    AUD $70million
  • Architect
    studio505
  • Local Design Institute
    Nanjing University Design Institute
  • Constructor
    Shanghai Construction Group
  • Interior Contractor
    Gold Mantis 
  • Photography 
    John Gollings 

The project at Phoenix Valley is a government funded and operated Theatre, Film and Arts Centre. Run as an invited design competition in late 2009, the brief proposed strict zoning for the site which directed all designers to divert an axial canal in a blunt right hand turn across the front of
a basic rectangular building footprint, and left open the option of a square to the front or the side. studio505’s winning scheme broke this zoning and instead proposed that the canal was drawn into the site, becoming the active element that has carved out the valley from a green roofed mountain mass. This gesture created a protected internal courtyard space, an internalised yet outdoor central gathering space secure from busy roads, allowing a public space, connection to a public screen and access to all the parts of the centre from within the valley.

Comprising a series of independently operated, but integrated programmes of 4 cinemas; a 1000 seat grand theatre capable of both traditional Chinese opera and radical digital immersive performances; a five storey flexible art gallery; a youth palace(learning centre) to educate up to 4000 students; an occupation experience hall, a sports and dance hall; a selection of retail, café
and food facilities and a connected and permeable children’s playground, landscaped courtyard and large format LED screen.

This broad and complementary mix of programme has been carefully tailored, folded, inserted, and moulded into the form of the building through a process of occupation, of inhabitation, carving out and claiming of regions, colonising of niches, of caves and hollows excavated
from within the simple, powerful geological form of the overall complex.

凤凰谷
正在建设中的凤凰谷位于常州市武进区,将成为当地最新的
文化标志建筑与活动中心。项目包括可容纳
1000人的武进大剧院,综合电影院,运动场,以及容纳4000名学生的青年教育中心。另外包括艺术展览馆,零售中心,公共广场中设有水景观,大屏幕与儿童游乐场。建筑屋顶种植覆盖绿色植被,并配有太阳能板,意图达到中国最高环保指标。此项目目前正在建设中。

室内设计
在凤凰谷项目的室内设计工程中,主要空间被设想成为由不同领域组合而成的空间-一个可以由使用者自由支配的空间。在共同的设计主题下允许不同的领域存在多样性,各种功能特性并维持建筑的简洁特质。


phoenix valley & wujin lotus conference centrephoenix valley & wujin lotus conference centre

ground floor planground floor plan



The complex is covered with a green roof, solar panels and recently achieved China’s highest rating in sustainability - China
3 Star Rating.

The project is comprehensive. Within its 65,000m2 studio505 have embedded technologies, thinking and design processes developed and tested in the much smaller Pixel building, in Melbourne. This comprises Green Roof technology, Built-In Photovoltaic (BIPV) and Solar Thermal arrays, Natural Ventilation, LED lighting and sophisticated water management systems including thermal heat exchangers with the canal waters flowing through and beneath the project. The project has achieved certification of the maximum 3 stars available under China Three Star rating which is the equivalent of Greenstar 5/6 star, our Leed Gold.

The entire roof of the project is ‘green’ planted to follow the patterns of the facade, with species that create an active and integrated seasonal flowering variety that flows down the green walls. This roof provides significant benefits to the project in terms of insulation, water collection + filtration and reduction of a heat island effect. The project has improved amenity, improved local value of real estates, and formed a highly regarded and awarded hub for the local community.


green roof and hanging gardensgreen roof and hanging gardens


Section Through Grand TheatreSection Through Grand Theatre

Grand Theatre FoyerGrand Theatre Foyer
Grand TheatreGrand Theatre
Grand TheatreGrand Theatre
Grand TheatreGrand Theatre

level 5 floor planlevel 5 floor plan
youth palace foyeryouth palace foyer
youth palaceyouth palace


badminton hallbadminton hall

autumn theatreautumn theatre
winter theatrewinter theatre
spring theatrespring theatre
summer theatresummer theatre

youth palace exterior at nightyouth palace exterior at night