To address this challenge, we designed a shopping landscape: a recessed green valley with circular glass shopping pavilions. Two parking garages flank the shopping area and connect underground. This allowed for the creation of an open-air social core that feels connected to its surroundings. The sunken shopping mall becomes a pedestrian spine that functions as the core of the eco-village, featuring retail stores, restaurants and kiosks, as well as outdoor gathering areas. The Valley features permeable pavement that minimizes storm-water runoff.

Custom-designed Solar Wings shade outdoor gathering spaces and power an outdoor lighting system, allowing the park to be safely and comfortably used for public recreation at night without increasing its carbon footprint. Each of the store pavilions is topped with green roofs that enhance water retention, extend the landscape, and offer places where visitors can relax, picnic, and take in the surroundings. Within the Games’ rolling hillscape, they extend the landscape across the entirety of the park and create a social core for the development.

The Valley is an innovative approach to designing a major commercial center. The rethinking of an underground mall into a sustainable green valley as a shopping artery. It creates connectivity across the site and animates the core of the park with commercial activity, adding long-term viability, upkeep and security to the urban park.