Gemdale Megacity is an experiment in the integrated design of Transit-Oriented Development and exploration of community commerce and Fujian Culture. In the preliminary positioning, the design team co-created two strategies with the clients and other design professional departments. Firstly, defining the site as an extension of the TOD’s multiple services. Thereby, community commerce has activated tremendous energy in the renewal of urban public spaces. Secondly, through the research on the local culture of Fujian province, creating university atmosphere for the community public space and making deeper cultural significance.
The site of Gemdale Megacity is in the university town that was considered and assisted in finally defining the project as a campus-style community public space. Besides, proposing the theme of ‘Books, Stars, Music, Art, and Mathematics,’ and correspondingly creating the five landscape spaces: Commercial Plaza, Ground Landscape Park, Philharmonic Theater, Bauhaus Art District, and Geometry Court. Meanwhile, the most representative cultural symbol is engraving words in the project, which combined with each theme as a unique decorative element to create the local cultural and historical atmosphere.
The design team strictly selected materials with different textures to help the audience fully experience the sense of history and heaviness of Fujian culture. In order to match the red bricks of the building, the Rusty Slate and textured stones are applied to express the roughness which likes the sense of the historical culture. In addition, stainless steel lettering is used to reflect the exquisiteness of the design and the fashion sense of community commerce. Through the contrast of the two textures of roughness and exquisiteness, a unique public space of campus style is formed.
The Library Plaza is composed of an open commercial plaza and golden eagle stairs. The spatial structure of the retreat colonnade in the plaza provides more public space for the city. The golden eagle sculpture on the book stairs made of granite, which is the historical epitome of the influence by Western culture. It is also the spiritual symbol of local history and culture. Star and Moon Park is a children’s ground landscape park with the theme of “Astronomy.” The Bauhaus Art District has created community commerce with an artistic atmosphere. The space was designed with a pleasant spatial scale, rich landscape layers, and clear design language. The Geometry Court is a sports space for the youth, and the outer fitness field provides all-age sports equipment to promote healthy sports in an all-around way.
Gemdale Megacity
Location: Suyang Station of Metro Line 2, Fuzhou, Fujian, P.R. China
Design Firm: Antao
Leader: Shenxie Wu
Team: Landscape Design Team: Wei Zhu/Shenxie Wu/Kexian Song/Teng Zuo/Bingqian Liu/Xuanjing Dong/Xiaoxia Luo/Jingyu Zhu;
Architecture Design Team: Xiaolei Yu/Lifu Zhang/Xin Wang/Xinxuan Peng/Jie Wang/Kuan Qian/Zongyuan Yin;
Construction Drawing Team: Liming Zheng/Yue Chen/Shanshan Zhu/Jiaping Shen/Lidong Xuan/Shichao Shen/Chunying Feng/Wen Sun/Mengyun Yu/Zhengyi Sheng/Chao Chen/Zhiguo He/Sungang Chen.
Clients: Gemdale Southeast Regional Company
Photo credits: Shrimp Studio