Located in a residential area 20 minutes from central Shanghai, 1000 Trees is a mixed use development spanning 300,000 square metres. 

The 15 acre site is located next to the M50 arts district and a public park. The development is split over two plots of land connected by a narrow government plot and incorporates several historic buildings. Designed by Heatherwick Studio for the developer Tian An China, 1000 Trees is conceived not  only as a building but as a piece of topography and takes the form of two tree-covered mountains, populated by hundreds of columns. Rather than hiding the columns which provide structural support, the columns emerge at the top of the building as large planters, each holding a handful of trees. Existing planning permission for two conventional shopping mall blocks had been granted for the site, but a huge, boxy building would need to be broken into smaller pieces in order to fit in with the surroundings. The integrated planting acts as a natural balancing element and the building’s edges are lowered to minimise the impact where it meets the art district and park, reducing the discernible threshold between them.

GROUP LEADER Dani Rossello Diez, Lisa Finlay

PROJECT LEADER Fergus Comer, Jimmy Hung

STUDIO TEAM Christian Álvarez Gómez, Jeremy Backlar, Jordan Bailiff, Einar Blixhavn, Sarah Borowiecka, Mark Burrows, José Cadilhe, Yuxiang Cao, Rodrigo Chain, Linus Cheng, Ruggero Bruno Chialastri, Kacper Chmielewski, Leonardo Colucci, James Darling, Silvia Daurelio, Vincenzo D’Auria, Thomas Glover, Tamsin Green, Hayley Henry, Le Ha Hoang, Sheau-Fei Hoe, Xuanzhi Huang, Hao-Chun Hung, Leung Hung, Thomas Impiglia, Jessica In, Linnea Isen, Ben Jacobs, Catherine Jones, Madhav Kidao, Panagiota Kotsovinou, Wendy Lee, Nicolas Leguina, Shan Li, Jeroen Linnebank, Virginia Lopez Frechilla, Débora Mateo, Vichayuth Meenaphant, Dimitrije Miletic, Craig Miller, Sayaka Namba, Philipp Nedomlel, Regina Ng, Claudia Orsetti, Hannah Parker, Monika Patel, Daniel Portilla, Jeff Powers, Matthew Pratt, Enrique Pujana, Thomas Randall-Page, Ryszard Rychlicki, Emmanuelle Siedes Sante, Julian Saul, Osbert So, Skye Sun, Nicholas Szczepaniak, Cliff Tan, Kenneth Tagoe, May Tang, Chris Tsui, Ivan Ucros Polley, Paula Velasco Ureta, Paul Westwood, Simon Winters, Eda Yetis, Kelin Yue

COLLABORATORS Alan Chandler, Arup, Basilica De La Sagrada Familia, GDC, Inhabit Group, Ingrid Hu, MLA Architects, Mode, Ltd, P&T Architects and Engineers Ltd, UEL, Rider Levett Bucknall, Urbis Limited, Speirs and Major Associates, Van Den Berk, Wah Heng Glass Group, Shanghai Institute of Architectural Design and Research, Wilf Meynell