Huafa Snow World

Huafa Snow World is a 131-hectare entertainment destination located at the heart of the burgeoning tech hub of Qianhai Bay in Shenzhen, China. Conveniently linked to the airport and an intercity transportation hub, the new development provides locals with a place to gather, while easily attracting and connecting discerning business and leisure travellers from across the globe.

Anchored by an 80,000sqm indoor ski resort, the largest of its kind in the world, project boasts a rich mix of retail, entertainment, commercial, hospitality, civic and cultural components, creating a vibrant destination servicing both tourists and local residents. Leveraging the urban green space and prime waterfront setting, the masterplan is shaped into 3 clusters – an entertainment-retail cluster along the riverfront and arterial roads; a culture and civic cluster integrated within the central green axis; and a lifestyle-retail cluster running east-west, connecting the adjacent communities. The vision for the project is to deliver a fully immersive experience, servicing not only tourists, but also the local residents. The planning and design for this cultural epicenter reimagines retail development as a multi-faceted community experience, inviting discovery and encouraging guests to explore. The Huafa Snow Centre is the magnum opus of the cultural and entertainment hub, integrating state-of-the-art ski facilities with themed retail and a JW Marriott Hotel to provide a seamless experience for the visitors. An airy, undulating structure is created to house the grandiose 83-metre-high and 441-metre-long ski slope, with the supporting structure strategically exposed and translated into a unique visual element within the FUNMIX Zone below. As opposed to creating an imposing structure, the scale of the building is broken down into series of floating boxes of the FUNMIX Zone, interlinked with each other to invite a sense of exploration within the dynamic mix of office, experiential retail, and entertainment space, including a featured tree house and a 35m diving centre at the heart of the design. A transformational retail street links the Snow Centre with the rest of the development via multi-level connections. Allowing for a variety of activities, events, and celebrations, it serves as a functional addition to the luxury hotel offering, which includes a spacious ballroom with panoramic views of the ski slope. The theme of snow is utilized throughout the design. Ceramic boards and aluminum panels are employed to translate the texture of glaciers and ice crystals into a sleek and modern façade, and unified design language. Designed to attract the new generation of consumers, Huafa Snow World taps into the ever-present basic need for connection and socializing, creating a community-fueled, immersive destination that boasts themed retail spaces and interactive installations. Seamlessly blending innovative design, cutting-edge technology, and sensation-rich experiences, Huafa Snow World is slated to become a community-fueled, immersive destination in the region, supporting growth and celebrating nature.