Qianshan New City Masterplan | Zhuhai China | Christopher Counts Studio

The 55-acre on-structure landscape design for Qianshan New City sits atop two levels of parking and employs an aggressive topographic response and rich park program to humanize the unrelenting architectural density of its sixty 30-story towers serving 15,000 people.This mixed-use development, currently under construction, is recognized as the largest single-phase project in China. The project is located in Zhuhai, which borders Macau and is across the South China Sea from Hong Kong.



Historically a fishing village and resort town, Zhuhai has been included in a group of Pearl River Delta cities to be consolidated in China’s bid to create the world’s
largest city with a population of 42 million. The project is located within five miles of the future Hong Kong- Zhuhai-Macau Bridge, which will link Zhuhai to Hong Kong, fueling the speed of development in Zhuhai.



The dynamic topography frames a wide range of program such as civic plazas, gardens, lawns, meadows, water features, and pavilions creating a rich variety of interconnected and unfolding landscape types. The rich topographic character of the site is most boldly expressed though the proposed canyon that creates a 60-foot deep change by cutting through two levels of parking and exaggerated by on-structure landforms. The canyon evolves as a densely planted landscaped punctuated by pedestrian bridges, long pathways along its perimeter, and dramatic views. A series of strategically placed openings—cuts in the roof deck—reference geologic rifts in the topography while providing air and light to the parking levels below. This coarse abstraction of geology compliments the robust landscape and informs the water features, sitting elements, architectural pavilions and syncopated distribution of program. Through the expression of varying landscape types, experiential dynamism, and innovative response to context, this design suggests a new model for the Asian Mega City landscape.




CLIENT:
Zhuhai Kadoo & Haijun Real Estate Development CO. LTD.
DESIGN TEAM:
Christopher Counts Studio with HM Design and Dumon Design
DavidClovers Hong Kong, Pavilion Architects

About Damian Holmes 3245 Articles
Damian Holmes is the Founder and Editor of World Landscape Architecture (WLA). He is a registered landscape architect (AILA) working in international design practice in Australia. Damian founded WLA in 2007 to provide a website for landscape architects written by landscape architects. Connect on Linkedin at https://www.linkedin.com/in/damianholmes/

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