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NANJING XIAGUAN RIVERFRONT MASTER PLAN, 2012 -  Architects: Skidmore, Owings & Merrill LLP.

NANJING XIAGUAN RIVERFRONT MASTER PLAN, 2012 - Nanjing, China, PRC.


Architects: Skidmore, Owings & Merrill LLP., Chicago, Illinois, USA
Client: MCC Real Estate Co. Ltd., Beijing, China PRC.


Project Description

For years, Nanjing’s Riverfront District has lacked vitality and a strong connection to the city center. SOM’s master plan aims to change this by radically transforming three kilometers along the neglected Yangtze River.

The 236-hectare plan calls for the creation of five mixed-use neighborhoods with good transit connections and waterfront access. The architecture, circulation, and landscape strategies build on the character of the site and promote a seamless integration with the city’s built environment. Colonial-era buildings, for instance, will be renovated and converted into shops, restaurants, residential lofts, and hotels. The plan also improves the district’s existing urban framework by establishing a clear hierarchy of streets and places. The ultimate goal is to re-energize the area and help shape a new global identity for this vibrant Chinese city.

The SOM plan is designed to begin the ambitious, riverfront redevelopment with a compact and walkable Phase One development strategy that will revitalize the Dama Road and Tianbaoli area and establish a new framework of well-scaled streets, urban development blocks, tree-lined streetscapes and public plazas that will reconnect the city and its people to the Yangtze River. The Dama Road District will be the hub of New Nanjing's nightlife, and its renovated colonial-era buildings will house galleries and boutique retail.

The chairman of MCC Real Estate, a subsidiary of state-owned Metallurgical Corporation of China Ltd., Hou Baoxu said, "The competition presented many good ideas from all the firms. In addition to their exciting concepts, we chose SOM because of its history of getting large and complex projects like Nanjing Xiaguan built."

SOM global city design partner Philip Enquist said, "We are delighted to be working with MCC Real Estate and the city officials of Nanjing to help move this great historic city to the forefront as an important business, tourism and quality-of-life leader in the New China. We are flattered that they have accepted our concepts for a dramatic new signature riverfront."

Harmonizing heritage and future is a design principle of Nanjing Xiaguan. Preserved plane trees shade bustling sidewalks at the base of the global landmark Finance Plaza, while the towers of its sleek corporate headquarters are joined by the Cloud Walk sky bridge, a unique international tourist attraction. The old power plant and railway buildings are renovated into hip, high-energy venues for fashion, lifestyle retail and restaurants. The old South Slip off the Yangtze will become a mixed-use loft residence, boutique hotel and amenity strip along the renovated shipping canal.

SOM Director Douglas Voigt said, "The core concept of the SOM plan for Nanjing Xiaguan is making connections. Connecting the city to the river. Connecting the best of urban living to nature. Connecting under–utilized land to value creation that will increase growth, tourism and prosperity. Connecting Nanjing's rich heritage with China's rising economy. "

Xiaguan Riverfront will be a collection of new neighborhoods. The SOM plan advocates a mix of uses at a variety of scales including an overall development strategy for the site, commercial hubs within each neighborhood, and a mix of uses within individual blocks and buildings. Eventually an enclosed walking street will weave through many of these neighborhoods, offering four seasons of convenient indoor-outdoor living in addition to views of the ever-changing Yangtze River.

The plan to transform the riverfront is based on dense, compact, mixed and sustainable neighborhoods and centered on the area's most important resource – water. Throughout the plan, water is used in innovative and interactive ways: along a series of unique, inter-connected canals and public open spaces, offering places to play in cleaned river water, as well as areas of increased habitat and ecological diversity.


NANJING XIAGUAN RIVERFRONT MASTER PLAN, 2012 - Nanjing, China, PRC.
NANJING XIAGUAN RIVERFRONT MASTER PLAN, 2012 - Nanjing, China, PRC.
NANJING XIAGUAN RIVERFRONT MASTER PLAN, 2012 - Nanjing, China, PRC.
NANJING XIAGUAN RIVERFRONT MASTER PLAN, 2012 - Nanjing, China, PRC.
NANJING XIAGUAN RIVERFRONT MASTER PLAN, 2012 - Nanjing, China, PRC.
NANJING XIAGUAN RIVERFRONT MASTER PLAN, 2012 - Nanjing, China, PRC.
NANJING XIAGUAN RIVERFRONT MASTER PLAN, 2012 - Nanjing, China, PRC.

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