Beijing Poly Plaza / Kokaistudios

Architects: Kokaistudios
Area: 119924 m²
Year: 2023
Photographs: RAWVISION studio
Lead Architects: Andrea Destefanis, Filippo Gabbiani
Architecture Design Director: Pietro Peyron
Architecture Design Team: Chang Liu, Jingning Ji, Min Cheng, Shuxian Peng, Fei Zheng, Andrea Antonucci, Tian Lu, Wenye Zhu, Yong Zheng, Lang Wang, Pedro Miguel, Ian Hsu
Interior Design Director: Rake Wang
Interior Design Team: Suzy Zhang, Chang Qing, Alex Jiang, Federico Nie, Ellen Cui, Alba Wang
Clients: Poly (Beijing) Real Estate Development Co., Ltd.
City: Beijing
Country: China

Beijing Poly Plaza, designed by Kokaistudios, has been renovated to align with the recent residential and office developments in Beijing. The project revitalizes two large buildings by opening up their interiors with light wells and creating flexible spaces for office and retail use. The design includes light-filled central atriums, distinct visual styles for offices and retail areas, and expansive glass skylights. This renovation focuses on horizontal integration and maximizing natural light, ensuring the complex resonates with its surroundings and introduces a new chapter of form and functionality.

As Beijing expands, older buildings require adaptation. Kokaistudios has renovated Beijing Poly Plaza to resonate with the recent wave of residential and office buildings. By opening up and expanding core functionality, they incorporated new work and public space elements through precise internal carvings.

The site consists of two large buildings with deep floor plates. An assessment identified optimal locations for demolitions, creating light wells to illuminate the interiors.

These negative spaces, carved from the roof downwards, open the interior and articulate each building as four smaller clusters within two large frames. These clusters were divided horizontally, introducing office blocks above existing retail space, providing flexibility for various tenants.

The new layout features light-filled central atriums supporting retail and office units with multi-layered public amenities. Expansive glass skylights stretch across each structure, blending into the facade, and connecting the neighboring clusters.

Distinct visual styles and materials differentiate the upper-level offices from the commercial podiums below. Office spaces feature sharp geometric volumes and angular fixtures, creating versatile open-plan communal segments and private meeting spaces. Retail elements are designed with flowing, rounded forms and softened materials.

Kokaistudios’ renovation of Poly Plaza focuses on integrated horizontal modules rather than vertical solutions. Intelligent internal carvings maximize light and minimize waste, producing positive, organic results. This approach ensures the project resonates with the surrounding area and introduces a new chapter of form and functionality.