Homes for the young to live and work in a creative environment
PROPERTY HUNTERS in Shanghai keen to live and work in the same location will be able to do so at the end of the year when Shui On Land starts offering special loft apartments at its Knowledge and Innovation Community development project in the city's Yangpu district.
The first phase of the project consists of 673 luxurious but minimalist SOHO (Small Office, Home Office) apartments. The loft flats should attract homebuyers who are looking for a unique living space that supports individuality and a creative lifestyle.
The SOHO units are located along each of four short blocks on Shanghai's University Avenue. The seven-storey buildings, which will be built in four phases and completed before the 2010 World Expo, feature an interior courtyard designed to create interaction among residents as well as the community around them.
The loft apartments draw their inspiration from the modernist living spaces found in New York in the 1950s, when artists and bohemians were looking for bright, open places where they could live and work in a central and creative environment. The new SOHO units are bright and airy with floor-to-ceiling windows that let in an abundance of natural light, high ceilings which create a feeling of space and a two-level open design that provides ample room for both work and living activities.
In total, the SOHO units offer more than 100 similar floor plans ranging in area from 60 square metres to 200 square metres. The ceilings are a maximum of 4.8 metres in height and each unit has a main bathroom and an en suite bathroom. Hundreds of other units will come on line in mid-2007 when Phase II of SOHO opens, followed by Phase III a year later and Phase IV before the World Expo.
When complete, the development will offer living space for about 5,000 people.
