Club Tree: exquisite details, raw materials, grayscale esthetics and spatial scene

China's past development model of "urban sprawl" has brought a series of problems to the city, such as the completion of yet another rehashed project, the closed separation of the city and the community, and the inefficient use of supporting resources. Most people feel as if they are "isolated", and their happiness of living in the city is greatly compromised. Faced with many challenges in the new neighborhood era, CLUB TREE experimentally proposed the product concept of "new delicacy", which is not only a description of the lifestyle of contemporary Shanghai, but also a representation of the pursuit of high quality design aesthetics. The designers extracted three principles from classic urban block cases: exquisite details, raw materials, and grayscale aesthetics and spatial scene, making the building readable, the block walkable, and the neighborhood approachable. CLUB TREE is located in the CBD core area of Songjiang New City in Shanghai, with well-developed surrounding communities. It is adjacent to Zhongshan No. 2 Primary School in the south, with a dense flow of people going to and from the school. There is a lack of quality public space around the plot, and the surrounding streets are generally devoid of vitality as they are isolated by the walls of the adjacent community. Therefore, we take the corner block as the window and start from the consideration of the neighborhood relations to build a real community scene integrating "popularity" and "spirituality" with the community and the city in the way of scene construction. In combination with the upper planning requirements of the plot and the beautiful vision of reconstructing neighborhood relations, we took the initiative to create a street and an open plaza within the red line after deliberating on multiple solutions to make CLUB TREE a third place for the integration and opening of the community and the city. In terms of function, the community supporting service center and neighborhood business are planned in this space to meet the convenient life and supporting needs of community residents, and realize the full sharing of community and urban resources. How to determine the appropriate street scale and plaza scale, and the number of commercial boxes became one of the difficulties at the beginning of the design. The design team visited 30 of the most beautiful streets in Shanghai to personally experience the exuberant street scenes in the old city, and summarized the scale and proportion that can carry the rich scenes. The design team, based on the scale of the block, has fully considered the number and orientation of the boxes in the block, which are required to increase the sense of enclosure of the block while taking into account the pleasant scale of the plaza. The angles of the boxes are rotated to form a variety of interesting spaces, making it easier for people to stay. The space under eaves has always been the most distinctive part of the traditional Chinese street space. As a kind of static street space, it cushions the transformation process from indoor space to outdoor space. By setting up the multi-layered space under the eaves, the designers make it easy for citizens to stop and rest on the gentle steps and experience the beautiful city life. The blurred transition between interior and exterior spaces extends the limited interior space, expands the actual usable area of shops, and encourages public activities in the block. In traditional life, it is not only a part of street space, but also a special "living space". It is a place where people can dine, chat, enjoy the cool, and strengthen the friendly relationship with their neighbors, which also adds to flavour to life.