There are centuries between the ideas that shaped Westlake 66. A 14th-century landscape painting provided its design inspiration. Ancient waterways shaped its cultural and physical context. And advanced computational tools helped translate those ideas into a contemporary piece of Hangzhou.
A vast mixed-use precinct in the heart of Hangzhou, the capital of Zhejiang province, Westlake 66 spans five office towers, luxury retail, a Mandarin Oriental hotel and a 400-metre elevated Sky Park.
Developed by Hang Lung Properties on the former site of the Zhejiang World Trade Centre, Westlake 66 is a thoroughly contemporary piece of city-making. But its starting point was a celebrated ink-on-paper handscroll completed nearly 700 years ago.
Where ink meets algorithm
Huang Gongwang’s artwork, Dwelling in the Fuchun Mountains, inspired the design team led by architecture firm Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates (KPF) to imagine an “urban valley” of towers that terrace like the surrounding mountains. Rather than treating Westlake 66 as a collection of buildings, the design conceived the development as a landscape: layered, unfolding and experienced through movement.
This is an idea deeply connected to Hangzhou itself. Westlake 66 stands between West Lake and the Grand Canal, where centuries of trade and urban life have unfolded against a landscape of water and mountains.
The inspiration for poets, scholars and artists for more than a thousand years, Hangzhou’s UNESCO World Heritage-listed West Lake is a collection of causeways, islands, gardens, temples and pagodas set against surrounding hills. Nearby, the Grand Canal forms part of the vast ancient waterway system UNESCO describes as the world’s largest and most extensive civil engineering project before the Industrial Revolution.
Water runs through the history of the site at a smaller scale too. It was once known as Baijingfang, or “the place of a hundred wells”, recalling the communal wells that dotted Hangzhou’s neighbourhoods.
At Westlake 66, these centuries-old ideas were translated through computational modelling that generated and evaluated thousands of options, including solar exposure, shadow impacts, daylight access, retail visibility and views.
RLB helped turn KPF’s cultural and architectural ideas into a design concept that incorporated Hangzhou’s cultural characteristics with the realities of down-to-earth construction. We regularly met with KPF to test the cost implications of different options to support Hang Lung’s selection of a design that met both aesthetic and cost objectives.
For distinctive elements, like the terracotta façade, we consulted with different suppliers and façade contractors to assess cost, buildability and durability. These early collaborations ensured the performance of the final product, enhanced the design readiness before tender, and successfully reduced potential problems or disputes in construction stage.
A palette drawn from the past
The Oval Partnership, responsible for the retail interiors and placemaking, carried this dialogue with Hangzhou’s past into the detail. Across the retail precinct, sculpted marble, pressed metal and wave-like latticework create a muted colour palette inspired by Song and Tang dynasty ceramics and the changing seasonal colours of the landscape around West Lake.
Two heritage buildings have been retained within the public realm, while Song and Yuan dynasty relics unearthed during development are being incorporated into an exhibition space.
The Urban Cell Wall, the façade wrapping Westlake 66’s retail podium, provides visual continuity across different uses while responding to environmental requirements and Hangzhou’s architectural character.
This interchangeable system of 21 unique components includes an aluminium outer shell, with terracotta inserts, glazed in a five-colour gradient, that bring the warmth and variation of ceramic craft to the highly rationalised system. Different infill panels – glass, shadowboxes, storefronts and louvres – adapt to the activity behind them.
It is a striking example of how standardisation does not necessarily mean sacrificing architectural character.
The façade design took months to develop and, when it was ready for tendering, cost 2.5 times the allowance in the original budget. Rather than compromise the vision, terracotta suppliers and façade contractors were invited to share advice on the material selection, fabrication and design details.
RLB costed each value engineering option before the preferred solutions were included in KPF’s design for tender. With the design resolved, contractors were pre-qualified for their technical capability before tender submissions. Bidders understood the complexity of the façade before the contract was awarded, reducing uncertainty and the potential for disputes.
Performance designed for the future
Environmental performance was embedded in decisions about massing, daylight, solar exposure and shading from the outset. That attention to performance paid off. Westlake 66 has achieved China Green Building 3-Star, BREEAM Excellent and WELL Platinum certifications, while two towers have achieved LEED Platinum and four LEED Gold.
Westlake 66 also received a Highly Commended Award in the Construction Project of the Year category at the 2026 RICS China Awards.
One of China’s seven ancient capitals, Hangzhou was described by Marco Polo as the “City of Heaven” and “the finest and most splendid city in the world”. Today, that ancient city is also one of China’s most dynamic centres for technology, artificial intelligence and robotics, with an ambitious agenda for sustainable urban development.
Westlake 66 is perfect for Hangzhou: looking to the past for inspiration while using the tools, technologies and environmental thinking of today to build for the future.
Fast facts
390,200 sq m
4.2 million sq ft total gross area.
5 office towers
alongside luxury retail, public realm and Zhejiang’s first Mandarin Oriental hotel.
21 components
The unique components used to create the adaptable Urban Cell Wall façade system.
“Westlake 66 is a city regeneration project at the heart of Hangzhou. The site was surrounded by many old buildings in Baijingfang, some vulnerable to structural instability during excavation and piling works, while construction brought the inevitable pressures of noise, dust and traffic diversion to the surrounding neighbourhood. The transformation is significant: Westlake 66 has created a brand-new destination for the enjoyment of Hangzhou people.”
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