Recently, CRTKL and E PLUS DESIGN officially won the bid for the design right of the commercial shopping mall at Shenzhen Qianhai International Hub. With the design concept of “Interweaving for A Green Bay”, the scheme got the first place in fierce competition from numerous top international design companies!
Location Introduction
Located in the core area of Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area (GBA), Shenzhen Qianhai International Hub is an important hub for inbound and outbound transfer between Shenzhen Airport and Hong Kong Airport. Moreover, it is also the traffic hub of Shenzhen-Hong Kong Western Rapid Rail, Guangzhou-Dongguan-Shenzhen Intercity Railway, Shenzhen Metro Lines 1, 5 and 11. The Guiwan District, where the hub is located, focuses on the construction of the headquarters of financial, information and trade enterprises, possesses many top-level urban public resources, and integrates natural ecosystems in prosperous urban spaces.
Design Principle and Concept
Through close cooperation, CRTKL and E PLUS DESIGN efficiently created a groundbreaking design vision, a forward-looking design concept, and a practical and creative design scheme.
We are committed to building the project into “a world-leading international landmark, a global communication hub, and an international power center based in Qianhai”. By adopting a series of “city-oriented” comprehensive design strategies, Qianhai International Hub will become a super landmark of the GBA in the future: a “national gateway image” connecting to the outside world, a “super TOD” integrating traffic stations with urban space, a “colorful block” coexisting with the city, and a “super link” interweaving open space with the main axis of the city!
In the future, this successful super TOD will connect China and the world, Shenzhen and Hong Kong, present and future, work and life, urban prosperity and natural culture.
Scheme Concept
The conceptual design of Qianhai International Hub is “Interweaving for A Green Bay”. Taking the great green axis of Qianhai Shenzhen-Hong Kong Plaza on the south side of the project base as an opportunity, the design scheme adopts the hub avenue running from north to south to link all the related plots, thus forming four node spaces, including “Shenzhen-Hong Kong Plaza, the urban hub, the hub hall and the coastal terrace”, along the hub avenue from south to north.
The project adopts the interwoven planning framework to create an efficient super TOD hub, uses four spatial nodes to create a colorful block that coexists and links with the city, and follows the planning concept from an international perspective and the solid and meticulous commercial and TOD design ideas to create a super-city complex representing the image of Shenzhen and the national gateway together with its nine tower buildings.
The “City-oriented” Comprehensive Design Strategies
Qianhai International Hub has a huge scale and complex functions. Because its land use conditions are greatly restricted by five rail transit lines and nine tower buildings aboveground, this project design can be described as “the extreme challenge under the extreme conditions”. However, CRTKL and E PLUS DESIGN adopted the “city-oriented comprehensive design strategies”, quickly grasping the key points of the project, and skillfully balancing the multi-dimensional needs of the project and the city under the extreme conditions full of high-rise buildings.
“Cities are not works of art to be designed, but living organisms” – Jane Jacobs
Interweaving the hub with the city is respect for the planning and positioning of the whole urban area. The scheme puts forward the concept of “interweaving”, and ingeniously responds to the urban design concept of “small blocks and a dense road network”.
Located in the super-dense urban center, the project is surrounded by landmark tower buildings. Therefore, the project adopts an elegant and modest form, which brings relaxation and blank to the urban space and avoids the tension caused by large transportation hubs. The linear street and the corridor are interwoven, which breaks down the scale of a super-large urban complex and shows colorful street appearances. The block is incorporated into the new conceptual commercial space, creating a futuristic, green and low-carbon park-themed business district. This project will become the “voicing place” of the GBA’s creative culture and an aesthetic demonstration field to convey the GBA’s lifestyle, with a high urban cultural connotation.
Qianhai International Hub will become a world-class TOD, but it will not be a grand narrative of narcissism. This project will be a powerful “beating heart” of the GBA, interwoven with the city.