MVRDV designed the masterplan for the entire Dream Center site, and also created the architectural designs for the southern half of the site, including the centrepiece, the M Factory. The commercial buildings in the northern part of the site were elaborated by Atelier Deshaus, while Schmidt Hammer Lassen designed the West Bund Dome Art Centre, and the new Shanghai West Bund Theatre at the site’s northern end.

In their design, MVRDV opted to work with all of these elements of the site’s history, minimising the carbon emissions and waste materials associated with demolishing and rebuilding the structures.