International Work
Shunde, China
City Expansion Competition
The most sustainable practices work with what is there before inserting anything new. The plan’s inspiration looks back to the city’s historic waterways as a means to organize the city of the future. The waterways form a series of connected islands that define the future growth of the city. The cultural and environmental significance of the water network creates new islands in the delta.
Shunde is located halfway between Hong Kong and Guangzhou. The highest concentration of development is concentrated near two transit stations along the light rail corridor, with additional town centers clustered around a marina, a cultural district, educational complex and parkway. Form-based codes for each of the areas describe building principles and massing characteristics and public rights-of-ways that foster a more urbane public realm.
LEAD FIRM: SWA GROUP
Tuanbo, China Island
Master Plan Competition
Remarkable environments exist. They can also be constructed. The island’s flat condition is first manipulated into a series of five hills that increase exposure to the water, optimize views and establish a distinctive character for the island. The five hills are separated by four valleys, each a product of carving away canals between the east and west portions of the site. The change in elevation is also enabled by the dredging of the adjacent reservoir and river, fill brought in from off-site and the construction of parking decks for the areas of greatest density.
A change in site topography accomplishes a number of objectives. First, it allows for a greater sense of identity for the island as a whole. Second, it facilitates a phasing strategy whereby the infrastructure investments needed for development on one hill (water, electricity, sewer and roads) can proceed in advance of other areas. Third, it increases the opportunities to establish treasured view corridors to the water and finally, significantly increases the real estate value of the land. By dividing the plan into five zones, a logical phasing strategy is possible that allows development to be sequenced over time.
Terrain and building typologies are related. South-facing slopes (8:1 – 6:1) are dedicated to villas and duplexes, north facing slopes (2:1– 4:1) include the highest densities of residential towers. River valleys between the north and south slopes contain townhomes in blocks and commercial bar buildings of four stories. East and west coastlines have high-density clusters facing the harbors.
LEAD FIRM: SWA GROUP
Qian Hai Waterfront, Shenzhen, China
Waterfront Development Competition
The most interesting places to live, work and play are areas where things come together. It’s human nature to aspire to be near these areas of confluence. At the heart of master plan is an understanding that we live on the edges of things, and that by extending those edges greater economic and ecological opportunities arise.
Located at a key point of the Pearl River Delta estuary, the Qian Hai waterfront is an intertidal zone where mixing naturally occurs. This 18 square kilometer site is built on land taken away from the sea. The master plan returns a portion of that land back to the sea and intentionally blurs the relationship between the two. By blurring the relationship between the land and sea, the edge condition or “membrane” between them is increased. Increasing the membrane results in a unique urban form for the waterfront and increases the value of development that fronts the sea. In lieu of a continuous seawall, the proposed interface between sea and land is porous and fragmented.
Density transitions from higher areas along light rail transit corridors down to a lower scale development along the marsh areas. The ratio of open space to buildings varies from “mainly urban” to “mainly open”, with degrees of transition in-between.
LEAD FIRM: SWA GROUP
Changsha, China
District Plan
The inspiration behind the Changsha District Plan lies in capturing what is most unique about the place and enhancing it. The design opportunity for this district plan can be found in the landscape’s most fundamental elements: the river, lakes and hills. The plan uses these elements as a framework for growth. By identifying natural characteristics unique to the area and amplifying them, the plan becomes more connected to the environment.
Existing land ownership on the site is fragmented and large tracks of the study area are committed to long-term public uses that diminish the possibility for a unified identity. The design response re-establishes connections that have been lost over time and creates new networks to the river that never truly existed. The framework knits the site together through a series of linear open space corridors that focus mainly on “controllable” land. The greenways link development clusters to one another and establish a landscape pattern around which higher density development can take place.
LEAD FIRM: SWA GROUP
architecture
urban design
