New York-based Laguarda.Low Architects has designed a sprawling 128-acre, mixed-use park in Shenzhen that aims to restore the city’s Bao’an district “to its former high level of livability.”

The OCT OH Bay Waterfront Retail Park, which opened in February of this year, joins the new Shenzhen International Airport, new government headquarters, and cultural facilities. The park is on a three-quarter-mile waterfront site, split into four primary zones: east and west waterfront retail park, urban business center, and Waterfront Cultural Park. A natural landscape intertwines with the built settings, dissected by pedestrian paths. 

Entertainment venues, leisure facilities, and a performing arts center are all featured, emanating from an expansive open-air plaza. An abundance of natural light and “choreographed circulation,” as stated by the architects, redefine the traditional shopping experience. 

The urban business center features terraced office buildings and a hotel that provide views of the adjacent harbor. They’re also built with green roots that collect rainwater to limit solar heat gain. 

“With 1.5 million square feet of mixed-use expansion in the heart of Bao’an, the Central District Park sets a precedent for development in Shenzhen,” states Laguarda.Low. “Redefining the notion of 'park,' the project fluidly integrates the natural habitat into the city with cutting-edge green tech systems and public spaces such as plazas, promenades, bosques, and verdant lawns.”

Two landscaped pedestrian ramps rise from the eastern and western ends of the site, creating three-dimensional paths for visitors from the public park to every level of the commercial zone including the green roof gardens. Ramps, stairs, and rest zones with trees, flowers, and art installations riddle these pedestrian paths. 

“OCT OH BAY is a new, exciting hub that seamlessly links nature and urban life in an imaginative, exhilarating way along a spectacular waterfront in the district of Bao’an, in the city of Shenzhen.”