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102 Madison Avenue New York, New York

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102 Madison Avenue
New York, New York

The development of the neighborhoods around Madison Square Park has created a variety of new commercial development opportunities from 23rd Street to 34 Street, one of which is the development of a new furniture district along Madison Avenue and included office rents due to the success of the Flatiron District. WQB Architecture PLLC is assisting A Ruth & Sons, owner of 102 Madison Avenue (for over 40 years) in redeveloping the property. The work consists of a new retail storefront, new office entrance and a new landscaped tenant roof deck.

Dian Lake Water Plant Mixed-Use Development

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Kunming is known for year-round spring-like weather  and unmatched natural scenery in China. The famed Dian  Lake area is especially sought after property for its tourism  and commercial value. The location of Kunming’s 7th water treatment plant is no exception. This project is an effort to best cultivate this huge real estate potential while keep-  ing the treatment plant in operation. Our design solution  provides a bold and ingenious idea for this objective. The  31-acre site is triangular with a small river floating by north  east and the beautiful Dian lake lies in its south and west.

Our team helped to develop a program for a  hotel, corporate office, a conference center, ser-  vice apartments, retail, and spaces for leisure. All  these facilities are to be initially managed by the  state-owned company that operates the plant.  After comparing design options, we chose the  most daring one. It is an elevated L shaped structure that bridges over the water plant. An independent deck of looped walkway is built at 10  meters above ground, in addition to connecting  pedestrians among new facilities, this deck will  take visitors and residents alike to look over the  plant (get an education about water quality and  environment), and venture out to the bar streets  by the river for some fun. Circulations below this  deck is mostly for plant operation that is kept  separate from access points.

Hotels, retail, and conferences are located in the three  points of the L. For seismic protection, the monumental L is made of the aforementioned three buildings  and connected with lightweight bridges that work as  sky-links essentially. Several green courtyards, sky gar-  dens and open atria are also included in the L to break  down the solid mass. It is an elegant structure on the  lake shore, like a bird ready to take off. It provides a  poetic design illustration for an economic model to utilize unused real estate in the city.

Dream Downtown

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Dream Downtown
346-360 West 17th Street
aka 351-365 West 16th Street
New York, New York

WQB worked with the Chatwal group to modify and update the first floor of the Dream downtown. WQB Architecture has designed a front façade on the first floor that can be opened to the public to link the front space to the outdoor space when weather permits. The front façade is part of an overall collective effort with the interior design group LBN to replace the existing restaurant space with a strongly themed space based upon a formula that proved successful in London. Our involvement touched many aspects of the project from place of assembly and exiting work to working with the contractor to help phase the project so that the hotel and other functions could properly function during construction of the new restaurant, juice bar and operable façade. The design and construction of this project are being completed on a fast track basis with construction and design happening simultaneously.

Unscripted Bethel Commons

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Dream Hotels acquired a 26-acre property along the wooded shores of the 1,000-acre White Lake at Chapin Estates in Bethel, New York. WQB designed a retail center which included a Peck’s Supermarket, a US Post Office, the Catskill Brewery, a convenience store, a second floor coworking space and a separate building with a microbrewery with bar and restaurant.

Tianjin Film Themed Park Design

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This film themed park is developed jointly by the Tuanpo Investment Development Corp and Tianjin Film Studio. It is located at the northwest corner of the famed Tuanpo lake, where the Duliujian River flows into the lake. The 36 hectare site is recliner. The long and narrow strip of land of about 197 hectares is also included in the master plan development as natural buffer zone to the themed park. One of the challenges is to preserve the integrity of a bird sanctuary, which is next to the themed park site, greeting flocks of migrating birds annually.

Our design studies the existing but abandoned dams and water channels at the river inlet to the lake, and used it to build attractions based on Tianjin’s history of river trans- port and its related early urban culture as a port city. Tian jin’s colonial history is another content we used for the themed park. Movie-sets from different concessions at the turn of 20th century including French, English, Japanese, and Russian are created, and old trolleys are used as means of transportation for tourists in the park. A film production zone is designed in the park to include movie stages, editing studios and multimedia production facili ties. Tourist routes are designed to separate from film and TV production traffic.

In addition to film-themed entertainment, other attractions are designed in different  zones of the park, including air disaster simulation, wetlands, mud park, fishermen’s village, treasure island, water screen and  birdwatching paths.

Former British Consulate

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Former British Consulate
New English Town, Tianjin

 As part of the streetscape redevelopment effort for New Bond Street/ New Englishtown in Tianjin, Crown Acquisitions arranged for Ralph Lauren to develop a Flagship Store at the Landmarked, formerly the British Consulate Building, at the heart of the district. The building is 38,000sf on 3 floors and will be fully restored to its former grandeur while accommodating a new retail strategy for Ralph Lauren. The building terraces will provide access to the central plaza of the district. WQB Architecture / Citiarc arranged for Crown to take possession of the building and will provide architectural services for the restoration of the landmark building.

Yonglidan Hotels

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Themed Entertainment indoor/outdoor Waterpark for children of all ages.

 

Intimate Boutique Spa Hotel, Hot Springs Classical Garden & Arboretum, Organic Agricultural Research Center, Education and Gardens/Vineyards

5 Star full service Resort Hotel, Conference Center, Banquet and Wedding Center, Specialty Restaurants and Retail

Joy City, Xidan Beijing, PRC

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Joy City Xidan
Beijing, PRC

Interactive Development Associates LLC and their affiliate, Oriental Property Consultants, restructured and marketed the development of a 2.5 million square foot project in Xidan, the “Times Square,” of Beijing. The project contains a major destination shopping mall, with full service food court combining Chinese traditional and western-influenced fare.

BIRR Castle Ireland

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WQB Architecture is actively involved in the development of BIRR Castle to make it a
more desirable international destination.

Current attractions include:

  • Tourism: The Demesne, The Science Center, Killeen
  • Agriculture and Forestry (Dairy farm 300 hectares, Forest: Old Oaklands)
  • Properties and Town Sites (in the town/on the estate)
  • Town Shopping and Farmers Market
  • Outdoor and Indoor Activities

Future Enhancements:

  • Expanded Interactive Science Center
  • Killeen Farms Restaurants and Shops
  • BIRR Retreat – elegant retreat and culinary education experience
  • BIRR Golf & Sports experience
  • BIRR Family Resort
  • Event Space

Bodega Negra Dream Downtown Hotel 355 West 16th Street New York, New York

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As a result of their 30 year history working together, Hampshire Hotels and Strategic/ Tao Group selected WQB Architecture as Executive Architect for the redevelopment of the lobby restaurant at the Dream Downtown in the fashionable Meat Packing District of New York. WQB worked with Becker/ Volence to develop a modern Mexican theme restaurant for Bodega Negra, a popular London restaurateur. The result is an indoor/ outdoor juice bar leading to a 150 seat dining and banquet room with a lively late night bar. Hospitality