On June 26, an exclusive interview with Laguarda.Low Architects was aired on the "Beijing Express" news column of the Beijing TV Financial Channel. Mr. Pablo Laguarda, founding Partner and Principal of Laguarda.Low Architects talked about his firm’s design approach.

Designed by Laguarda.Low, Shenzhen Bao'an OCT OH BAY recently won the 2022 ArchDaily China Building of the Year Awards. OCT OH BAY is located in the coastal belt of the central Binhai area of Bao'an District, Shenzhen. With high attention and support from the City of Shenzhen, Bao'an District joined efforts with the OCT Group and internationally renowned design firms to create this mixed-use project that integrates coastal leisure, cultural tourism, artistic endeavor, shopping, office, and ecological experiences. The project is the newest highlight of an international coastal city, a world-class tourist destination in the Shenzhen Bay area.

As founding Partner of Laguarda.Low and Lead Architect of OH BAY, Mr. Laguarda says: “We are very proud and happy to receive the ArchDaily award of the year for the OCT Baoan project. It's something that make us very proud and very happy. We thank ArchDaily China for this. This project, since the beginning was a challenge for us, a design challenge, the idea of integrating a public park, a large public park for the city of Shenzhen, and particularly for the district of Baoan. The idea to introduce a large mixed-use development and make it work with that park in a seamless way was one of the biggest challenges, at the same time create the uniqueness of this project. The possibility to interconnect the two uses: entertainment park, not just a contemporary park, a park for the people of Shenzhen, but at the same time, a large retail mixed-use development that will not interfere with the quality of that public park. To accomplish that is what make this project unique and make this project successful, at the same time that is a very interesting mix of uses. It's a park, a public park, in which people are mingling through to the whole project, enjoying not just the park, but also the offers that the project give them.”

Based in New York, USA, Laguarda.Low Architects is an award-winning international architectural practice founded in the year 2000 by a closely-knit group of design-oriented architects with many years of shared knowledge and experience. Our practice spans the globe with projects designed and realized in over 25 countries on five continents. Laguarda.Low demonstrates unique strengths and expertise in master planning and architectural design for various types of projects.

“We are Laguarda.Low Architects, an international firm with our main office in the city of New York, USA.” Says Mr. Laguarda: “We also have an office in Beijing, China, and another office in Japan in Tokyo. Our approach to design in general is based on many different items. I'll mention three of them: Creativity, Humanity, and Innovation. The creativity is perhaps the most important. We always try very hard to be creative in our approach to every single project. When we start a project, we always ask ourselves what we can do differently this time, what can we improve from the predictable solutions that architects would typically pursue. Innovation, we always looking for better materials, new materials, new approaches to sustainability, new approaches to the way projects are built, that's an intrinsic part of our work. In the end the humanity of our projects is paramount, we design for people, our buildings at the end of the day are going to be used by people. We put a lot of attention on that. Our projects are human in scale, are human in proposal, are human despite the large scale of mixed-use projects or masterplans of large cities. We are always thinking how we can improve the life of society.”

LLA has completed numerous projects and has been highly recognized around the world. Our design philosophy is a holistic and forward-looking. While taking past experiences, current trends, and future needs into account, as well as specific program requirements, site conditions and infrastructure, we instill each development with a unique and distinctive character. We contextualize our design, integrating the immediate natural environment with the overall planning, seeking inspiration from nature as well as a dialogue with it.

In Mr. Laguarda's view, the social responsibility of architects is above everything else: “Architecture, as a society in which we live, changes constantly. We see everyday changes in technology, in the way people do things. Still, we always try to keep focus on what is important — how can we produce environments that benefit the people and the society. That is still the most important goal of the architect-- Trying to create innovative environments for people.”