Khorgos is a city on the ancient Silk Road near western boarder of China. In the scheme of ‘The Belt and Road’, Khorgos will be built as a free trade zone concentrated with trading, products exhibition and sale, storage and transport, as well as financial services. The client purchased a plot in the core area of this free trade zone, planning to build a shopping street with catering and a hotel apartment. The whole project will be built in two phases.  

The site located on northeastern corner of the International Convention Center is fan-shaped, radiating from its center. Only the northeastern boundary is defined by a river. Its northwestern side is adjacent to a 260m high twin tower invested by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Inc.  

Considering the local climate at high latitudes, the architects designed a compact building complex for commercial of first phase, in which many small shops were arranged around the courtyard, forming an interior space like the local bazaar. The layout of this commercial area continued the idea of urban planning and therefore became the exterior circle of the planning site, underlining the curved urban streets together with International Convention Center. This commercial area takes full advantage of its street- and waterfront. Thanks to its regular geometry, the commercial area has an efficient layout and its facades are economically priced and easy to build.

Due to phase construction, the scheme designed a 20-floored hotel apartment on the northeastern corner, so that a smooth skyline is formed from the high-rise twin tower to the low commercial area. 

The facades use many perforated aluminum boards, whose silver-grey color tone matches the distant snow mountains under sunshine. Functioning also as sunshade, the boards could create very special effect of light and shadow for indoor area, similar to local insolation rooms. On ground floor arch elements and bright colors are used in order to activate commercial atmosphere. The lively arch elements will not exaggerate specific ethnic characteristics; on the contrary, they will symbolize a harmonious multi-ethnic community in this central Asian free trade zone where merchants from all over the world meet.