Escape Utopia
The project explores how architecture can offer a momentary utopia for young Chinese workers to escape the highly competitive working environment. Located in a rare green space in Shanghai’s Lujiazui Financial District, the design proposes a subterranean healing retreat surrounded by skyscrapers.
This underground sanctuary features therapeutic functions such as massage, floating, stretching, white noise therapy, and an algae-based oxygen bar, creating a sensory refuge detached from daily pressures. Above ground, the existing parkland is preserved with a contoured green roof planted with calming and sound-responsive vegetation like lavender and miscanthus, forming natural rest zones for visitors to "lie down" on the grass.
The project questions whether architecture can carve out temporary relief within the capitalist core, offering care, stillness, and psychological release beneath the city’s surface.
