Associate
BArch, MArch, PhD Candidate, RIBA
Beijing, China
Xuexin Duan
Photograph by Frederic Aranda ©
Photograph by Hufton + Crow
Xuexin’s portfolio spans office, commercial, cultural, and pavilion typologies. She has frequently collaborated with ZHA’s Computation and Design Group (ZHA CODE), embedding cutting-edge research into practical architectural applications. Xuexin’s PhD research on Agent-Based Parametric Semiology, focusing on orientation and navigation in complex spaces. After spending several years in ZHA’s London office, she relocated to Beijing in 2020, where she has been leading the Tower C project at Shenzhen Bay Super Headquarters Base, overseeing it from competition phase to its current construction stage.
Photograph by Hufton + Crow
Featured Projects
From an office building with the world’s tallest atrium, to a tower that integrates the city and nature within its central green axis, discover highlights of Xuexin's notable projects at ZHA.
Photograph by Hufton + Crow
Xuexin completed her Master of Architecture and Urbanism from the Design Research Laboratory (DRL) at the Architectural Association (AA) in London, where she studied under Patrik Schumacher. She is a PhD candidate at Tongji University.
Xuexin’s research has been widely recognised, with papers published in top journals such as The Architect, Springer Nature Singapore, and Architectural Journal. She has presented her work at various institutions and universities and taught lectures and workshops, including at DigitalFUTURES and CAADRIA.
Projects
Explore a selection of projects Xuexin has contributed to since joining ZHA.
Courtesy of Soho China, photograph by Jerry Yin
Offices
Mixed Use
Located in Wangjing’s centre, Wangjing Soho is a mixed-use development consisting of three towers 118, 127, 200 metres in height designed as three interweaving ‘mountains’ that fuse building and landscape to bring together the surrounding community with a new 60,000m² public park. The design responds to the flows of the city and allows natural daylight into each building from all directions.
Photograph by Hufton + Crow
Offices
Retail
Four continuous, flowing volumes coalesce to create an internal world of continuous open spaces within Galaxy Soho – a new office, retail entertainment complex devoid of corners or abrupt transitions – a re-inventing of the classical Chinese courtyard which generates an immersive, enveloping experience at the heart of Beijing.
Photograph by Hufton + Crow
Tall Buildings
Offices
Located on Lize Road in southwest Beijing, Leeza SOHO tower anchors the new Fengtai business district; a growing financial and transport hub between the city centre and the recently opened Beijing Daxing International Airport to the south.
Photograph by Xue Liang 薛亮
Offices
Mixed Use
Infinitus Plaza is the new global headquarters of Infinitus China. Incorporating work environments designed to nurture connectivity, creativity and entrepreneurship, the new headquarters also includes the group’s herbal medicine research facilities and safety assessment labs as well as a learning centre for conferences and exhibitions.
Render by Negativ
Offices
The new Taikang Financial Centre will be a centre of excellence, developing effective systems and networks that will provide a new ecosystem of support for people of all ages across China. Using the new technologies developed within the Taikang Financial Centre, the group will continue its commitment to supporting community development, healthcare, education and well-being throughout the country.
Courtesy of CAT-OPTOGRAM 猫瞳
Culture
Integrating three distinct cultural institutions for the city, each venue within the Zhuhai Jinwan Civic Arts Centre incorporates unique characteristics that create differing visitor experiences, yet all are united by a coherent formal and structural logic that spans 170 meters wide from east to west and 270 meters long from north to south.
Courtesy of Brick Visual
Offices
Tall Buildings
The design of Tower C integrates the city and nature within its central green axis with the transit orientated development (TOD) of Shenzhen’s new spine, creating a ‘superscape’ that will become a tower of the future within the Super Headquarters Base.
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