Welcome to Yantian – The No.1 human scale district in Shenzhen

Shenyan Landscape Improvement

Location: Shenzhen, China
Client: Shenzhen Yantian District Government

Programme: 7km street landscape design with 5 nodes along the new metro line

Our concept “Welcome to Yantian” does more than improving the open spaces along a road. It sets out wider urban design strategies to turn Shenyan Road into the welcoming front door of Yantian, the No.1 Human Scale District of Shenzhen.

Shenzhen Yantian was one of the earliest places that saw international investment in the late 1970s. Located between mountains and sea, it has a comfortable human scale setting. However, development relied on one single road – Shenyan Road – and its car-dominated layout became a problem as it dominates the character of the whole district. With the completion of the new motorway in the hinterland, regional traffic is already bypassing Yantian today. The construction of Metro Line 8 under Shenyan Road gives the opportunity to reshape the space and the image of Yantian district, and to unlock its potential as what we believe could become the No. 1 Human Scale District of Shenzhen.

“Welcome to Yantian” proposes three design strategies:
Systems – How to turn Shenyan Road from a car-oriented corridor into a multi-modal backbone embedded in district wide movement and open space systems
Welcoming nodes – How to design key nodes as places that welcome citizens and visitors to live, work and play in Yantian
Detail – How to support the experience and intuitive use of Shenyan Road as linear public space with consistent use of detail

The expert jury praised the MLA+ proposal for its strong overall direction, able to lead detailed design as well as wider improvement and transformation. The local government followed the jury recommendation and commissioned the team with the qualification of the concept and the schematic design of the key nodes.

Stages:
2019 Concept Design
2019 Qualified Concept Design, Schematic Design

Awards:
2019 International Urban Design and Open Space competition, 1st prize

Team:
MLA+:  Martin Probst, Xiaolu Sun, Jingyue Yan, Robert Younger, Shaoning Wu, Olga Marelja, and Jun Yang
Shenzhen HOPE Landscape & Architectural Design Co.,Ltd