The Ring

The Ring in Chongqing is a ground-breaking ecological retail destination featuring one of China’s largest indoor botanic gardens.

Setting new benchmarks for experiential destinations in China, The Ring’s vision is truly innovative. The design seeks to deliver a new-generation social destination, an urban natural community, and a landmark regional commercial centre. The power of biophilia and our desire to be close to nature is front and centre, pushing the agenda forward for future commercial developments. The key objective of the brief was to align with the developer’s four core values for the destination – “Organic, Respectful, Inspiring and Magnetic,” – as well as represent the brand philosophy for The Ring, “Living Mall, Living More”. To meet these objectives, the 42-metre-tall botanic garden, interactive sports and culture facilities, family and child-friendly activities, and a vibrant dining and shopping scene all under one roof provide first-of-their-kind attractions to bring a new lifestyle to offer to the city and Chongqing’s community. The multi-level garden connects with each of the mall’s seven levels, with the interior design blending in the natural atmosphere by way of the material palette and open-space planning. Elevated walkways, public seating and hanging fixtures create intimacy with nature and help to extend the gardens upwards. As described by the developer, the scheme is based on sustainable principles and the success of the project will see the ‘urban-nature-community’ concept serve as a pioneering model for other cities across the Chinese mainland.