The Xi’an Centre Culture Business District (CCBD) is located south of the city’s historic centre between the ruins of the Temple of Heaven and the prominent Shaanxi TV tower. The district blends a retail podium with walkable streets, terraces and open plazas, offices, apartments, accommodation, green spaces, and a vertical park.

Ceramics are at the heart of the 155,000m² neighbourhood, with crafted tiles cladding the facade, columns and curving beams, a nod to the ancient capital’s famous Terracotta Army. The studio worked closely with local makers to produce more than 100,000 tiles with a unique glaze. Following over 2,000 experiments, including constructing 1:1 mock ups of the columns, the resulting facade brings interest and intricacy to the exterior of the buildings and invites visitors not just to look at but also touch the tiles.

The outdoor streets of the district converge at the central plaza where the Xi’an Tree, a vertical park, creates a natural gathering point. Visitors can ascend its 56 elevated ‘petals’, or terraces, where a sequence of cascading gardens follows the biomes of the ancient Silk Route from the alpine tundra to the dry steppe. Standing over 57 meters high from the basement level the Tree offers views across the development with its varying levels of roofs, terraces and streets, as well as the city beyond.

The district has been designed to offer visual complexity from three distances. At a city-scale, it appears as a new neighbourhood of the city with a distinctive skyline inspired by the roofs of the Chinese temples of Xi’an. At a street distance, the varying levels created by the interlocking frames and landscape terraces provide different vantage points of the central plaza as well as the city around it. Finally, at door-level, the design offers a sensory experience in its use of materials and nature, such as ceramic lift buttons and soft-edged stones in the paving patterns.

Xi’an CCBD’s public spaces opened to visitors in December 2024 and entry is free.