Nanning Resort Hotel

Additionally, the buildings were raised 8 meters so the entire public level has an adequate perspective view of the river and the landscaped private gardens of the hotel, also allowing for underground parking, service and back-of-house areas with at-level access to the service street. The conference and banquet halls have their own area with a private garden for events, and a shared entrance canopy.
For the overall façade design, our ‘Zhuang Palace‘ proposal, with a unique approach to the local architecture of the Zhuang minority and a touch of rich detail treatment was chosen by Wanda from among more than four design options.
The hotel was to convey a sense of pertinence to its location, becoming an interpretation of the local architectural and cultural resources. The research led to determine the Zhuang tradition as a rich source of inspiration both in its architectural features as well as some cultural traditions and artifacts.

On the other hand, the function of the building and the sense of service provided by a hotel to its guests prompted us to search for a way to elevate the local tradition to the appearance of a palace. Therefore, the main concept was expressed as a Zhuang Palace, with a strong supporting base elevating local architecture and culture to elegance and refinement.
Typical architectural elements such as the distinctive stacked roof structures and consecutive roofs, overhanging balconies and the elaborate wooden paneling, fenestration and lattice work in facades, were the source for what we called the “noble wooden mantle”, expression of the served area, whereas the serving area was expressed as a solid stone base that supports the wooden elements.
The light, delicate and noble wooden mantle that hangs from the roofs is mainly composed by the guestroom angled balconies to provide the best views of the river, corridors and the wooden paneling that articulates the facades. The stone-clad covered walls of the lower floors constitute a modern, elegant and solid base, containing the public functions and administrative areas of the hotel. This juxtaposition is the massing concept of the building, a perfect combination of heavy and light, solid and void. The roof design is an extension of the facade design and breaks the volume into parts that work together, with a clear central volume and end towers.

One single main entrance canopy, connecting the entrances of the hotel and the banquet hall, gives character with dimensions that express the high standard of the hotel. The hotel lobby is a flow-through transparent space, with a continuous axis from entrance canopy, main doors, lobby and exit to the garden terrace, bringing the landscape into the noble spaces in a relaxing atmosphere.
The end towers emphasize the vertical dimension in the vicinity of the access avenue while displaying the large traditional drum pattern as a branding motif for the resort. The design of the drums was taken from local culture and applied as a pattern for the large scale stone decorations on the facades and as a frieze that highlights the Piano Nobile of the building. The main design features of the hotel, noble stone columns and a floating wooden roof, conform the welcoming street side gatehouse.
In addition, the main design motif of the banquet hall is the traditional repetitive roof, to highlight the importance of the building as seen from above from the neighboring high-rises.

Wyndham Grand Boutique Hotels

The three buildings allow the hotel guests to experience a journey in time – both in architecture and interior design – through almost a century of German history and stylistic epochs:

From the elegant Neo-Renaissance (around 1870), via the opulent Eclecticism (around 1900) to the exalted Expressionism (around 1930).

The buildings’ names refer to typical features or important German personalities of their respective times: the peacock as symbol for luxury and elegance, the composer Johannes Brahms and the artist Otto Dix.

What can be clearly seen from the outside, in distinct architectural styles for each epoch, has been distilled and considered in abstraction in the interior design. A somehow German style and German story-telling makes it obvious to guests and users that this complex ensemble of buildings is united by one idea: which is to demonstrate the perseverance of German design qualities through time and through the turmoil of history.

Fuzhou Hengjie Heritage Intervention

Today, Wenchangli District is the most complete cultural area in the city of Fuzhou. In Song dynasty, Hengjie Street was the main road leading from Wenchang Bridge to Zhengjue Temple. It was the starting point for the development of the whole riverside district, north and south. During the Minguo period it incorporated the Catholic church and other notable landmark buildings. After 1949, its urban situation experienced a fracture with the development of new large scale residential buildings.

The central concept of this intervention project is the protection of the built and unbuilt heritage, and its gradual improvement, preserving the cultural and architectural values while organically incorporating business and commercial functions related to tourism.
The protection of the existing buildings and cultural experiences has the purpose of maintaining the existing sense of history, time and way of life. A step-by-step development improves the heritage in phases recovering the original culture and gradually increasing the content of experiences, according to the growth of demand in a reasonable combination.
The working background is formed by three main sources: The intervention level of the preservation planning done by CAUPD with historical and cultural background study; the architectural measurements, on-site discussion, technical exploration and analysis; and the commercial strategy and product definition.

The three main elements are combined to create a “New Hengjie Street”, based on: The physical heritage (i.e. the preserved and restored architecture and landscape); the cultural heritage (with the high culture of Linchuan and the local historical functions of the past); and the new touristic vision (with commercial functions necessary to attract and serve visitors).
The plaza at the main crossing is the heart of Hengjie Street. It embodies the most important values of the district in a warm and lively, elegant outdoor space: Mudanting Plaza.
The noblest Minguo and Gan style facades are restored and brought to view, linking them to Linchuan high culture – as elegant Hotel and Library.
All the historical functions are recovered, the bank and traditional craft workshops as exhibit spaces mixed with restaurant or cafés.

To the east we encounter the fabric arts and crafts area, marked by the Fabric Arts Plaza at the crossing of Dongxiangcang Street, where the Gan style façade buildings on both sides of the plaza are restored and repurposed as restaurant, boutique hotel and fabric arts workshops.
The main research and analysis was focused on finding an identity for Hengjie Street and covered the history of the Wenchangli district, its urban character and potential, its architecture and landscape heritage, and its own function of commercial history.
The urban role of the Hengjie Street sector is to create connections between the areas north and south to form a complete Wenchangli historic cultural district, incorporating all existing resources, serving as a “Linchuan cultural window”.

The existing situation reveals different conditions and architectural styles of different value. The preservation strategy will guide the intervention with the goal to highlight these values.
The architectural heritage is mainly expressed in the facades. The facade analysis revealed 42% Gan style, 36% mixed or damaged, 4% Minguo style, and 18% post 1949 modern.
In order to strengthen and highlight the architectural values, facades are restored, repaired and rebuilt, eliminating those with no value, reinforcing the historical character of Hengjie Street. Some modern elements are added to achieve a diverse, realistic town atmosphere. After the intervention, 80% is related to historical style, 7% is Minguo style, 6% is demolished for public spaces and 10% are modern elements.
Another source of identity is the original mix of commercial functions of Hengjie Street, which still rests in the memory of its oldest inhabitants. These functions are recovered and integrated as tourist resource, as exhibition spaces and workshops in combination with cafés and restaurants.

In the first stage of development and intervention, nodes 1 and 2 can demonstrate the strategy.

Node 1

The first operation is the creation of new urban connections required to improve connectivity and cultural synergy from north to south.
A new plaza marks the main crossing of Hengjie Street with this new north south connection. Both plaza and new alleys also reveal Ming walls, previously hidden to view.
The existing functions are recovered and restored as exhibition spaces with art workshops related to the traditional crafts sold on these properties.
The buildings with strong architectural value are preserved as relic houses.
A new boutique hotel is proposed, restoring the important Minguo and Gan style facades and preserving interior layouts, whereas in the deteriorated areas only the original spatial layout is preserved for new guestroom functions.

Node 2

On the crossing of Hengjie Street and Dongxiangcang Street, another plaza is proposed, demolishing modern buildings of limited value.
The existing craft shops are restored into the memory of visitors by repairing and rebuilding two fabric workshops.
A sculptural setting is created in the plaza.
Other buildings are restored as cafés, restaurants and youth hostel, in an alley which – in the future – will connect to the Central Plaza of the whole Wenchangli District.

Jinan Sunac Hotel Group

The hotel complex comprises several hotels and facilities with distinct features:

The “Wanda Vista” 6 star hotel (including Main Lobby Building, Spa building, 3 types of luxurious villas, as well as one presidential villa); the “Wanda Realm” 5 star hotel; furthermore a Conference Center and a “Confucius” theme hotel; finally a Bar Street overlooking the Hancang River.

Jinan has beautiful natural scenery, where many spring waters converge, with unique views many poets wrote about. Based on a specific historical and cultural environment, Jinan’s residential architecture has both the simplicity and weight of the Northern building style and the lightness and transparency of the Canal Towns south of the Yangtze River. RhineScheme’s design is based on these bivalent features.
Typical Northern-Chinese traditional buildings have been taken as reference, whose main architectural features are the ‘XieShan’ type of double-pitched roofs, heavy stone walls and a lively wooden façade design. These features have been adequately translated into the design of a mountain hotel. On the other hand, lightness is achieved in the treatment of architectural details.
The site itself is 10 meters below street level, which posed a challenge in the master planning stage.
Visitors will approach the resort area through a mountain road, where the scenery changes step by step. The master plan necessarily involved the landscape design, due to the pronounced level difference between the site and the surrounding planned streets. Also the slope of the site itself had to be considered (which is in fact the mountain piedmont), in order to achieve favourable unblocked views towards the east.
The topography of the site led to the placement of the higher and larger buildings on the top line close to the mountain skirt. The smaller buildings, i.e. the villas, descend towards the lower levels, with the conference center on the lowest. Across the street, the Bar Street area and Hancang River valley are limiting the complex.

The design of the hotel complex reflects Confucian culture in a refined and clear manner.
Both the main lobby building of the 6 star hotel and the 5 star hotel are aligned on the west side, creating an articulated and charming image, echoing itself the profile of Lianhua Mountain behind them.
Between the two hotels, the spa building serves as connector. Towards the east, the villas are arranged in parallel rows, organized along two artificial valleys that create open views: one in the axis of the hotel lobby, the other one leading down from the 5 star hotel building.
The overall design is like an epitome of the old city; it creates a unique and meaningful resort by following terrain and culture.

6* hotel
The lobby of the Six Star Hotel is a two-storey building that stretches horizontally across the natural water level. Combined with the infinity pool and the falling water feature, it achieves the effect of a wonderland – outdoor and indoor – like in an old Chinese painting. The building is kept in a so-called ‘new Chinese style’. The stretched flat-topped building is dotted with five different antique slope roofs. The top of the lobby adopts the traditional form of the ‘XieShan’ type double-pitched roof, thick but elegant. The falling water forms a contrast between vertical height difference and horizontal architectural form, and a contrast between vividness and tranquility. The combination of flat roof and sloped roof pays a direct tribute to the classic architecture of China during the 1950s and 1960s, at the same time gaining economic advantages.
Moving down the road there is a group of totally 75 villas, planned in accordance with the rich topography of the sloping terrain. Each villa has a broad view, while being hidden between green hills and trees.
The elegance of the entrance lobbies is in harmony with the general flexibility of the villas.

5* hotel
The “Wanda Realm” 5 star hotel consists of 250 suites. The entrance canopy forms a building interspersed among two wooden blocks. Together with the first floor colonnade and a ‘Xieshan’ type of roof it creates an atmosphere of classic Chinese culture.
The public area stands above the first valley. The valley falls suddenly and the height of the building rises sharply. In order to avoid the impression of an excessive building volume, the higher levels’ rooms are made of light-coloured wooden blocks, whereas the ground level rooms have a white coloured base. Finally, dark-coloured wooden areas and glass railings connect the two surfaces in order to create a light, almost floating building volume.
The “Wanda Realm” hotel – facing the street and with its backside close to the valley – expresses an elaborated architectural momentum, at the same time creating the required holiday atmosphere of a mountain hotel.

4* theme hotel
Still under development

Bar Street
Jinan Bar Street, along with the unique historical culture and humanist spirit of the city, echoes the city’s natural landscape system with “four sides of lotus and three willowy sides, of a city of mountains with a half city lake”.
The design takes the “spring” as the main topic and by that highlights the characteristics of the city. The bar street adopts traditional Chinese architectural style, extending the traditional vocabulary of old Jinan architecture and folk custom, creating a culture style bar street with the integration of spring and water, and the blending of history and contemporary habits.

Jinan Bar Street is designed for business, tourism and culture at the same time. By integrating different situational blocks, four main themes related with spring water have been developed: watching and tasting water, playing with water and listening to the sound of water.
The uses are: folk culture experience, high-end catering, entertainment and leisure, public facilities, exhibition, scenic or stage settings, and other formats.
The buildings’ elevations have been designed according to the geographical location of the project and the inherent cultural connotations. The bar street adopts the ancient architectural style of the Ming and Qing Dynasties. At the same time, it integrates local and traditional cultural symbols of Jinan and contemporary facade techniques.

Commercial Street Design

In order to gain differentiation advantage in combat with surrounding rivals and attract young consumers, we have adopted a futuristic façade with a strong sense of technology. Smooth metal curves, transparent glass curtain walls and glamorous illumination give the architectures a unique modern feel. The concept of urban valley is inspired by architectures interweaving with urban attributes, allowing customers to disconnect from the hustle and bustle of the city and instantly immerse themselves in the enchanting valley.

When it comes to our design strategy, on the one hand, our design idea is divergent, on the other hand, the design team also paid attention to moderation and logic. In order to control the project budget, a strategy of zoning design and modular design was adopted. The sky platform will be used as a design interface to clearly demarcate individual commercial building from the urban valley area.

The placement of multiple waterscapes creates a sense of harmony between nature and human. The flow of water and the solidity of the valley bring people a pleasant and comfortable environment.

Majuqiao Innovation Hub

Scheme 1

In terms of overall structure, the basic structure consists of “one axis, two centers, four gardens”. Office space, communication space and rest space interpenetrate each other, integrating office, leisure, social, life and other functions.

The design team endeavors to intertwine nature and technology through various approaches. Technically, the strategies contribute to environmental protection while curb the ecological footprints which are attributed to constructions. Plants serve to purify water and air, and the fusion of surrounding buildings and interior greenery brings the duality of technology and nature into the realm of aesthetics.

Scheme 2

Traditionally, industrial parks are geared towards cost-effective and highly efficient production models. Large areas of “barrack-like” and “matchbox” spatial layout is commonly used. Our scheme eschews the customary barrack-like layout of small buildings, open space are enclosed through the combination of small volume buildings, in addition a sunken plaza is incorporated into our proposal, thereby forming a variety of spatial experiences.

An ensemble of small-scale buildings enclose the diminutive inner square nestled among office buildings. All buildings are interlinked on the ground level, shared space for supporting facilities is available on the underground floor. Outdoor corridors such as escalators and balcony stairways are combined to enable a fluid link between indoor and outdoor spaces, thus generating intriguing areas. Strategic “cores” punctuate key regions to bolster inter-building communication, an energy flow within and outside the buildings is triggered, culminating in a smooth people flow circulation.

Tianjin Culture Park

Beside overall Urban and Traffic Planning, the commissioned services included Landscape & Open Space Design of the entire Culture Park, integration of subterranean traffic and retail areas, Water Management and guidelines for Lighting Design.
The project is core, focal point and “heart and soul” of the entire city. The area comprises Opera House & Chinese Theatre, 5 museums, Library, Youth Centre and a vast shopping mall, with totally 1 million m²GFA (85% newly constructed).

A core area of about 400x1200m forms a generous open space, able to accommodate a variety of large-scale public open air events. A dynamic set of cultural spaces are interconnected and unified through the artful use of water as core design element.

Continue reading “Tianjin Culture Park”

Tianjin 5G Smart Community

RhineScheme’s concept, awarded with the “2022 Iconic Awards | Selection”, explores ways towards a smart and inspiring new type of housing development, starting from the overall spatial design to the distribution of functional spaces and applied technologies.

Taking into account the actual location of the project (in the neighbourhood of an industrial area), a new form of living together is propagated, not only but also with the help of 5G technologies.

Background

Manufacturing was once the cornerstone of industry in Jinghai, a district in the southwest of the 16 million metropolis of Tianjin. The strong private enterprise environment was Jinghai’s widely known label at the time. But change was and is the real constant in urban development.

Jinghai will now take up “smart living” as a transformation and development impetus, creating a demonstration area that will serve as a template for the growing nearby “future city” of Xiong’an, while making Jinghai a key player in the development of smart living and its linkages to relevant industries.

Strategy

The ‘5G Smart Community’ is the first seed of the development strategy. It will explore and implement six innovation focus areas of future housing developments: -employment opportunities, -spatial connections, -innovation & upgrading, -engagement, -resilience, -diversity & community.

The underlying vision is to provide diverse housing for families and singles that is highly flexible and adaptable to future needs and where growing families, also growing businesses and different lifestyles can come together and strengthen each other.

Master plan / Street types

The Master Plan aims to remove physical and psychological barriers, typically used to demarcate residential or urban neighbourhoods, so that they integrate better with their surroundings. 5G technology is used instead of fences and gates to create places that are liveable, sustainable, open and safe.

In designing new smart city streets as community hubs – rather than car-dominated streets – a necessary urban edge is created on the east side of the planning area with a seamless pedestrian zone, as an interface between residential development and the adjacent commercial area.

On the west side, the green buffer of the river is integrated into the settlement as an extended leisure space by creating additional open spaces along the perimeter line. With views of the river extending to the new development, unimpeded continuing connections are created into the green courtyards.

The central street integrates people, vehicles and the environment through intelligent design.

On the ‘Smart Street’, AI cameras enable dynamic identification of people and non-inductive safety management. Smart kerbs allow users to find shared parking spaces and unmanned shared cars.

Smart light poles provide charging stations for robotic devices, smart traffic lights regulate traffic flow and give priority to pedestrians.

In ‘Smart Commercial Street’, an unmanned supermarket, a robotic restaurant, an interactive VR ‘Tmall’ shop (or that of another digital retailer) and interactive lighting provide creative and vital living while ensuring safety and 24/7 opening hours.

Landscape

Waterfront green spaces provide recreation, while also providing space for valuable scientific and technical research and regulatory systems. An intelligent environmental management system, coupled with humidity and sprinkler metering, dynamically adjusts the humidity and quality of air and water to ensure a pleasant open space experience.

Greenery extends into the settlement, creating a continuous, diverse and multi-age recreational space.

Community / Apartment Types

Non-inductive, flexible 5G technology to manage block boundaries ensures the protection of fundamentally open and inclusive community spaces. A diverse range of housing and rich public amenities make the community a heterogeneous and inspiring place.

The design of different housing types follows the five guidelines: -technology, -individuality, -ecology, -affordability, -anchoring in the place.

The design targets two types of target groups, implemented by means of two basic modules. It works with 5 basic sizes and a variety of flexible dwellings, including graduate dwellings, single dwellings, dwellings for young families, dwellings for families with 2 children, and expert dwellings, thereby creating a sensible mix and a complete growth path for the community.

Personal needs change with life’s journey, requiring variable housing units. Age-appropriate needs are taken into account, e.g. in younger years of life the need for affordable housing and interpersonal communication, in middle age the need for variable living and flexible work spaces, in advanced age the need for value enhancement and living together of several generations.

Simple and sustainable interior materials, audio-controlled furniture and appliances (5G smart home devices) are basic features of the homes.

More or less traditional homes with residential services derived from personal needs make the home intimate and individual.

Public facilities

The “sports and activity area” includes a sports centre as the main building and numerous opportunities for outdoor activities for the whole community.

The community restaurant is planned as a creative space, also as a place for e.g. romantic meetings of young people.

The “Sky-Garden” is a place to relax after work.

A street overpass designed as a coloured corridor connects functions and offers children a fantastic incentive to cross the street safely to the kindergarten.

A so-called “urban showroom” has commercially used and communal urban “lobbies”. It includes an exhibition building and offers meeting and hotel services. Additional rooms for special events are available to the community on request.

Finally, the Landmark Building offers a variety of mixed-use functions. Continuous ramps on the lower floors traverse the indoor and outdoor spaces and connect to the “Sky Garden”, which not only provides an immersive experience, but also makes the building a prominent portal and brand for the Smart Community.

Construction methods and technologies

The six core capabilities of smart communities are realized through horizontal and vertical digital smart tech systems.

In terms of ‘vertical architecture’, 5G smart communities will rely on the operational capabilities of a cloud that connects and permeates the city’s data infrastructure to micro-units.

In terms of ‘horizontal architecture’, the aim is to have a comprehensive solution based on the ‘Internet of Things’, data support, and the respective service capabilities of the stakeholders: residents (C|Customer), businesses (B|Business) and governments (G|Government).

Intelligent living

Intelligent assistants, integrated interaction technology and sensory AI devices let residents relax as much as possible at home.

The planned smart community management includes: smart property management, management of certain event-driven scenarios mapped in a closed management loop, and various smart services in a 12-hour cycle with the community as a unit.

The control centre, located in the centre of the community, uses the powerful cloud platform, which helps to ensure real-time monitoring, planning and management of the compound.

Digital payment systems (in this case an ‘Alipay’ entrance) are integrated into the application terminals for docking C and B customers (residents, businesses), which significantly reduces planning, operation and maintenance costs.

The user interface is automatically adapted to the frequency of use and the preferences of the users to achieve a practicable and efficient operation.

Conclusion

We are convinced that ‘5G Smart Community’ technologies will help shape the growth and innovation in urban design of the future.

This project was awarded the 1st prize of the “Global Design Competition of Intelligent Life”.

 

Design: RhineScheme GmbH (consortium leader) / Tianjin Urban Planning & Design Institute / ALIYUN

Lead designers: Christian Hartmann, Ran Li, Wei Er

Design Team: Fan Zhang, Michele Morrone, Gregorio Soravito, Laura Cristina Ruiz Gil, Qianqian Song

Mentougou Industry Valley Masterplan

The crucial mission of the planning was to revitalize mountains and valley, to promote cultural innovation, to realize the rebirth of “black gold” and to value the  transformations of the 21st century. In an area with highly complex and diversified elements such as mountain and water, forests and fields, villages and mines, the questions were: How can contemporary life be carried on in a somehow outdated environment, how can this area become a spatial carrier with cultural connotation and ecological charm, and become a source of new vitality?

As a result, RhineScheme proposed a concept based on the motto “the whole is greater than the sum of its parts”, which means establishing regional connections, inserting new functions, reshaping mountains and streams, and building an immersive tourism and ecotourism demonstration area with China’s industrial civilization as main theme.

The linear development focuses on “catering, accommodation, transportation, tourism, shopping and entertainment”, and creates a full set of service systems which combines cultural tourism and eco-tourism meeting the travel needs of the whole family.

After realizing a series of interventions, a visitor cannot only enjoy the scenery along the way, but also take an exclusive train journey experiencing the immersive industrial culture of the site, and a fantastic adventure shuttle through the industrial world. A visitor will experience traditional crafts and pastoral life in the “folk custom tourism area”, retrospect lost civilization and its rebirth in the “industrial and mining heritage experience area”, and enjoy a moment of natural tranquillity and ease in the mountainous “leisure and recreation area”.

Typical attributes of the area were classified in order to realize spatial shaping of different characters. 3 types of spatial classification have been established:

  • Firstly, the space is divided into introverted and extroverted types as to their spatial feelings.
  • Secondly, history and future are defined in terms of the feeling of time. The historical perspective is superimposed with contemporary functions, and the functions are transformed accordingly.
  • Thirdly – based on the transformation mode – artificial landscape and natural landscape are classified. The historical development background is respected, while playful experience is added to it.

On the basis of the natural topography, a park system is created, which makes the mountainous land more completely displayed to the public, with realizing a series of connections within the site. This will ultimately drive the coordinated development of the area.

12 train stations are being created along the historic railway line. The starting point for the planning of each individual spot is taking advantage of the local situation and integrating the entire areas surrounding the stations. The principle has been: quality upgrading, with the aim of creating spatial nodes with exclusive features for each station and with unique views when roaming step by step along the line.

01 Mentougou station

Mentougou Station, as the hub station of the traffic artery through the landscape, will be a bright name card in the hearts of passengers and citizens by showing the future temperament of the urban area where the journey starts with an allegory of the regional landscape form.

02 Liuliqu Station & Village

Along the railway line, on the left bank of Yongding River, there is an ancient village with beautiful scenery with mountains at the back – Liuliqu Village. Many monuments can be found in the village, and the only yellow glaze-roofed Qing Dynasty overhead building in Beijing is preserved there, as well as the Pearl Glaze Tile Factory, the Brick and Tile Kiln Factory, the ancient theater, and the Temple of the Mountain God. The thousand-year old village of Liuliqu has become an experience center of glaze tile culture and national trending culture through renewal and revitalization for the entire resources.

03 Wild Creek Station

Depending on the terrain, the complex mountain topography is deconstructed into a series of surprises that pop up along the ground and design a natural ecological study base that respects ecological multidimensional sustainability.

04 Xiehejian station & Shuiyuzui Village

Xiehejian Station, the entrance to the West Beijing Ancient Road, is the place to enjoy the historical scenery. You can walk through Shuiyuzui Village, to Guandi Temple and Leek Garden Village via the Ancient Road Museum and Niujiao Ling Gate, or climb to the top of the mountain in order to enjoy the spectacle of the lofty mountains and high ranges. There are many boutique homestays around the site distributed in the village.

05 Dingjiatan station & Art Village

Dingjiatan is a beautiful rural field at the foot of the mountain, with large orchards and green farmland clustered around village houses. The railway line passes through the village, and Yongding River flows slowly by the village. The village renovated by artists and architects introduces high-quality industrial resources to create public art project for the village, renewing it as an art village through dissolving art into life and artistic scenes.

06 Leek Garden station

has rich agricultural products and cultural resources. Here you find the famous leek garden pickles, large areas of planted farmland with picking gardens, and historical attractions such as Leek Garden Great Cave, Peach Blossom Valley, Temple of Dragon King, Ma Zhiyuan’s former residence, etc. A station house with a spirit like a ribbon floating into the leek garden from the railroad, people can feel the controversial encounter of ancient and modern culture.

07 Seshufen Station & Village

As you go west, the mountains become steeper, and the village of Seshufen is nestled at the foot of the mountains. The village is high in the west and low in the east, forming several distinctive residential clusters from Yongding River to the railway line. The village focuses on rustic residences as its characteristics, with localized rural landscape, ecological countryside, and modern agricultural production to create a participatory leisure agricultural experience that integrates farming experience, knowledge and science, product sales, and catering services.

08 Wangping Station & Mine

On the basis of the protection of historical buildings, the environment and building heights in the surrounding areas have been improved, buildings, squares, mines and other elements have been renewed to better carry future-oriented functions and to create an industrial culture experience center.

09 Luopoling Station & Town

The new site of Luopoling station is chosen on the north side of the reservoir and set up separately from the freight station, providing a safer, more comfortable and beautiful station for visitors. In order to solve the problem of height difference between the track and the community of Luopoling, a unique cross-track trestle is set up to facilitate the transition from the mountain to Luopoling station house for visitors. The station features leisure, shopping, dining and entertainment in one facility.

10 Datai Station, River & Mountain Park

Simple buildings and those without special value have been removed, focusing on the theme of culture and sports, making compound use of the river space for the purpose of creating room for the development of sports functions and commercial services.

11 Muchengjian Station & Tourist Resort

With the mountain as the background in vertical dimension and the buildings as the foreground element in horizontal dimension, the aim was creating a high-end international tourist resort relying on the excellent landscape and topographic advantages by means of horizontal dislocation and vertical extension.

12 Qianjuntai Station & Village

Here the mountains look more majestic, the colors are more and more flourishing, in a ravine, above a large tableland garden. Qianjuntai station appears in front of the eyes with green roof tiles and red brick walls. The quiet ancient village of Qianjuntai and the memories of the old mining era are reborn with new vitality through the construction of the station and the newly created surrounding landscape.

Epilogue

Governmental sponsors on district and municipal level have organized this competition with clear goals: To implement the thought of an ecological civilization, to emphasize the importance of lucid waters and lush mountains as invaluable assets, to respond to the call of zero carbon strategies, to promote ecological protection and green development in ecological conservation areas, to protect the industrial heritage of the century-old coal industry, and to boost regional synergistic development.

Following RhineScheme’s overall planning concept of revitalizing the valley, it is possible to open a dialogue between historical culture and contemporary life.

Pinghu German Town

In a more systematic way, the town is based on 3 simple development steps:

Two major roads, one from North to South, and one from East to West, outline the city into four major parts, each with one main functional identity.

The end of each street is identified by a Gate-tower, while the crossing of the two roads are widened to the major town square.

Representative buildings of the town are placed along the main square. The functions of these buildings are closely related to car industry.

The secondary paths, laid on top of the above introduced main roads, are concluding a densely-weaved road network, forming a winding and interesting pedestrian system leading through spatial nodes with different sizes. This creates different scenes and offers changing view points while walking, inviting to experience the city and discover more.

The created building blocks, within the street network, welcome the visitor by scale, by design and by function. Each possible shop is facing the street to maximize the commercial value, enhance street life and generate activity. The four endpoints of the town, at the ends of the main routes, are marked by distinctive bell towers, representing the unique connotation of the town.

The facade design of the buildings aims to display the image of a romantic town in Germany. Uncompromising contemporary architecture is blended with historicizing facades, reflecting the western culture and mediating between rationalism and romanticism. It is a representative display of the quality and advantages of European towns in their abilities to transform, to adapt and to create new expressions, coming along with new functions.

Open Space and Landscape

The landscape design consists of the contrast between “stone city” and “Garden”. The plaza-street system forms the stone city, together with the buildings. Adjacent to it are green alleys and small gardens.

The market square contains green elements, inviting people to linger and offers refreshing water features.

The entrance squares contains trees in lines and guides people movements. Bike parking can be arranged well underneath the trees.

Green courtyards contrast the stone city with themed gardens like, grass garden, wilderness garden, mirror garden, formal garden, art garden, monastery garden and finally a beer garden. The inside, green and private, and the outside, paved and public, is created.