Pauline Moskal
landscape architect

Located along the mainly industrial banks of the Suzhou River in Shanghai, TESSELATE is a community centre designed to bring life back into an unused site, creating an urban retreat in an otherwise bleak community. The requirements for this project included: a regulation soccer field, library, café, boat club and gym. In addition to the site allotted for the community centre, it was also required to include a large “water remediation park” that was adjacent to the site. 

In order to deal with the existing high pedestrian traffic through the site, the first step was to create ample circulation. This was done by fracturing the site with two main axes that would bring pedestrians from across the bridge, through to the water remediation park adjacent to the site. This ‘fracturing’ eventually informed the triangulated form of the building and was also reflected in the design of the neighbouring water park.

To echo the existing condition of the site, TESSELATE has an industrial quality in its use of materials in order to reflect the current fabric of the area. Using combinations of corrugated metal, concrete and wood, the community centre feels anchored in its industrial setting, while offering a modern and more inviting feel to residents in the area.