Zaha Hadid’s groundbreaking vision redefined 21st-century architecture and caught world-wide imaginations. Any of her projects turned notions of what can be done into concrete, steel, and glass; merged her unwavering hope for the future and her confidence in the potential of the invention with advanced architecture, material, and building advances.
Project Info:
name: huanggang port area masterplan
location: Shenzhen, china
architect: Zaha hadid architects (ZHA)
design: patrik schumacher
ZHA project directors: Charles walker, Nils Fischer, Simon yu
ZHA project associate: Jakub klaska, lei zheng
ZHA competition team: Chun-yen Chen, marina dimopoulou, Matthew Gabe, Stratis Georgiou, Rupinder Gidar, Charles harris, Boyan Hristov, jinqi Huang, yen-fen Huang, han Hsun Hsieh, Martha masli, xin swift
Local design institute: east china architecture design and research institute (ECADI), Shenzhen municipal design & research institute (SZMEDI)
Experience of Hadid’s architecture gives us the understanding that the search for perfection alone was not her modus operandi. Her buildings are beautiful—and beauty which accounts for their urban appearance, for their grip on the eye—but the beauty and virtuosity of her art is a marriage of sense. Her architecture is imaginative, original, and civic, providing generous public spaces that are simply arranged and intuitive to navigate.
As they open, each of Hadid’s buildings takes its place in architectural history because of its virtuoso architecture, its architectural philosophy, and its pure magnetic appearance. Its creations are the embodiment of an enlightened intellectual structure and a principled discipline.
Zaha Hadid Architecture has announced designs for the future master plan of the Huanggang Port Area in Shenzhen, China. The current master plan will be “an important node of the Guangzhou-Shenzhen Science and Technology Corridor.”
The ‘port living’ area will be situated next to the Fulin metro station at the northeast end of the master plan which will contain new developments, schools, sports, and recreation facilities. Shopping and dining services for those working in the Science Park will also be included.
While the current Huanggang Port Management Area and Public Transport Interchange at the southwest end of the master plan will be rebuilt as a ‘port center’ district with administrative service offices and hotels for visiting, scientists and researchers. In the meantime, the port’s old container screening areas and parking lots will be turned into a ‘collaborative creativity’ field consisting of technical research centers and labs, as well as a convention center to hold seminars, talks, etc.
In order to create a center for technological innovation and cooperation in industries, the current master plan will house numerous industries such as microelectronics, material production, artificial intelligence, robotics, and medical sciences. The development would allow the 1,67 square kilometer port of parking lots and freight inspection areas to be redeveloped as a national hub for technology innovation.
Located in the Futian District of the city, Huanggang Port currently serves 300,000 people crossing the border with Hong Kong each day.
As the Port is situated at this key interchange within the Greater Shenzhen Bay region, the new Huanggang Port Area masterplan at Shenzhen Park in the Shenzhen-Hong Kong Science and Technology Innovation Cooperation Zone incorporates direct connections with Shenzhen’s metro network. ZHA’s planning scheme is structured around two large public squares, and the current master plan would identify three interconnected districts: the port center, the shared creativity area, and the port living area.
“The existing Huanggang port management area and public transport interchange at the southwestern end of the masterplan will be redeveloped as the ‘port hub’ district with administrative supporting offices and hotels for visiting scientists and researchers,” said Zaha Hadid Architects.
Besides, the current administration area and public transit interchange will be converted into a district center, with offices and hotels for visiting scientists and researchers. In view of the potential expansion of research studios and labs, the plan envisages shared podiums and bridging skywalks.
The ‘port living’ area will be situated next to the Fulin metro station of Shenzhen at the northeast end of the master plan, the living district will include residential developments, schools, sports and recreation facilities as well as retail and dining facilities for those employed in the science park.
With its base grid formed by the current street layout of Shenzhen to the west, the central spine of the master plan is a broad pedestrian boulevard that links its two primary public gathering spaces: the public square at Fulin Metro Station to the northeast and the big public square at the center of the administrative core at Huanggang Interchange to the southwest.
ZHA constructed a radial secondary grid based on these squares, further subdividing the districts into clusters and providing additional circulation routes for functionality.
“The design accommodates the future expansion of the research studios and laboratories via shared podiums and bridging skywalks connecting with adjacent buildings,” the firm added.
In addition to the two main civic plazas, there will be a smaller cluster of buildings with their own ‘nucleus’ of an outdoor communal square, meaning that natural spaces are incorporated throughout the master plan. These open squares will also create a green belt of parklands and wetlands along the Shenzhen River.