Shunde Joy Marina
The stunning 5.5 hectare Shunde Joy Marina was completed in 2021.
Location Shunde, China | Client Guangdong Shunde Oversea Town Industrial Development | Architects Laguarda Low Architects | Size 5.5 hectares | Status Completed 2021 | Tags Public Realm and Infrastructure, Mixed Use and Residential, Climate Change, Culture and Art
The landscape design of the residential and commercial development creates a unified mineral landscape linking the city and the waterfront.
Lush vegetation softens the edge of the city and provides an acounistic and visual buffer from the road. The paving pattern gives form to a series of stormwater gardens that collect and filter urban runoff.
At the main entrances, sculptural stainless-steel rocks serve as wayfinding elements and contemporary paifang gateways to the palm tree avenues which connect to the waterfront. Lattice pavilions along the avenues provide areas of shade.
Following the grain of the architecture, paving is comprised of self-same units that have been scaled up and down to differentiate spaces, from smaller intimate spaces to expansive plazas. This pattern evokes a geologic cracking which unifies the groundplane with the surrounding architecture and providing a thematic framework for further invention.
Using the theme of geologicical cracking, the paving units are scaled up and down from smaller intimate spaces to expansive plazas.
At the waterfront, the paving culminates in a waterside plaza with faceted seating elements, sculptural lattice shade structures, and outdoor dining platforms. Timber terraces aggregate from this plaza, leading down to a water plaza adjacent to the waterway, promoting an intimate relationship with the water’s edge. A stage, positioned at the apex of this space, allows for performances with multiple surrounding promontory spaces for audience enjoyment.
In February 2023, the project was named as a finalist in the MIPIM awards for ‘Best Urban Regeneration’.
Once a traditional agricultural county, the Shunde district has become one of the most affluent counties in Guangdong and mainland China. Situated in the fertile Pearl River Delta, the economy was once dominated by agriculture, fisheries and silk farming. Since the implementation of policies related to reform and openness began in 1978, the people of this area were given full control over their geographical position and culture. This has allowed Shunde to gradually develop into a modern industrial epicenter for the production large-scale commodities such as electric appliances and automobiles within a recently opened technology center. China’s southern city of Shunde also joined the UNESCO Creative Cities Network as the city of gastronomy, making it an attractive and dynamic tourism destination.
We recognised the environmental challenges in achieving a balance between industry and the local ecology, which contributes directly to the economic viability of the region. Therefore we developed a specific plant palette of native plant species to anticipate impacts from industry, as well as to create a series of sponge parks along the waterfront to address seasonal and periodic flooding. The design approach unites the natural realm with the built realm.
The project required MSP’s large-scale coordination of contractors, including traffic, civil, structural and marine engineering, infrastructure planning, and larger transportation needs assessment.
The Shunde Joy Marina is now a dynamic space enjoyed by residents and visitors from across the globe.
