Today, Ennead Architects unveiled its design for a new master-planned commercial district in Shanghai called the Lingang Special Area. The plan includes four new large buildings and more than 124,500-square-meters (about 1.33 million-square-feet) of retail and public space to be realized over a multi-year project timeline.
Lingang will join Shanghai’s core business area to the adjacent Dishui Lake district and create a free trade zone that developers expect will lure a variety of international business concerns to the new venture.
In a press statement, Ennead design partner Peter Schubert explained the firm’s “vision for the Lingang Special Area in Shanghai is to implement an international standard of architecture that reflects China’s role in 21st-century global commerce,” adding that “the integrated design of the mixed-use site lends itself to a variety of elevated experiences for the local community and tourists alike.”
At the center of the district is a museum and exhibition space called “The Ring.” Ennead says the feature has a cantilevered observation deck and will be supported by the four mixed-use designs, including the twin Tower Waterfall and Tower Rhomboid. A series of sub-districts appear to define the rest of the program and are connected via a network of elevated linear parks and sweeping Financial Crescent gathering space.
Ennead says Lingang will be designed as a “sponge city,” meaning its open spaces and greenery are capable of absorbing rainwater and mitigating the effects of erosion. Once complete, the district will join the firm’s superlative design for the Shanghai Astronomy Museum and underway Lingang Science and Technology City as the latest in a string of major commissions the 59-year-old firm has won since expanding into the city in 2014.
4 Comments
Great case study of why some really good architects should never try their hand at Urban Planning (or hire someone who know how to do this). This Masterplan looks insipid, uninspired and sterile. No bueno.
it feels like a cutting edge vision of the future from 2005.
It looks as you would expect from a China "free trade zone"
LOL
I look forward to seeing it as the backdrop for the next Resident Evil movie.
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