Tall & Urban News

MVRDV’s Shenzhen Terraces in Universiade New Town, Longgang District, Shenzhen was selected from 27 entries by international design firms. The competition for the mixed-use Shimao ShenKong International Center across 101,300 square meters sees MVRDV selected as the winner.

Designed with sustainability as a focus, the completed project will form the core of the thriving university neighborhood, acting as a new three-dimensional urban living room with more than 20 programs, including a small gallery, library and outdoor theatre.

Shenzhen Terraces is a three-dimensional urban living room with more than 20 programs, including a small gallery, library and an outdoor theatre.

Shenzhen Terraces aims to bring vitality and innovation to the area through a seamless integration of landscape, leisure, commerce, and culture.

Located in the heart of the Longgang district at the meeting point of high-rise housing, commercial complexes, sports and educational facilities, the site is ideally located to serve as a defining public space within the region.

The central concept of Shenzhen Terraces is to merge the existing landscape with the new development by using stacked plateaus for its various buildings.

Combining a pedestrian-friendly landscape with a mixture of functions and public transport, Shenzhen Terraces is poised to become a sustainable hub for the surrounding area.

The abundant planting and water features reduce the local temperature and provide habitat for urban wildlife, while gardens and rainwater collection generate food and water resources.

The concrete used in the buildings themselves will be made using recycled concrete as the aggregate and photovoltaic panels will adorn extensive portions of the rooftops.

The abundant planting and water features reduce the local temperature and provide habitat for urban wildlife.

The terraces are adapted to serve a diversity of functions: large overhangs shield the visitors from the hot sun while offering places to sit and enjoy the view.

These shaded terraces create places for plants and water basins that cool the verandas and create a climate buffer to the interiors.

The edges of the terraces dip at strategic points to form connections between the various floors and to double as small outdoor auditoriums.

In other places, the façades are pushed inwards to emphasise entrances and create recognizable places within the scheme to help visitors orient themselves.

The design’s landscaping, developed in collaboration with Openfabric, echoes the pebble-like forms of the terraces above to create patches of greenery and public programming between pedestrian routes.

These patches host planting that imitates the sub-tropical natural forests of the region, mixed alongside features such as grassy hills, palm tree-filled plazas, public art, reflective pools, and activity zones for pursuits such as climbing or table tennis.

The landscaping also extends to the roofs of the buildings, with green lawns that are accessible to the users occupying the areas that are not covered with photovoltaic panels.

Shenzhen Terraces was designed by MVRDV for Shimao Group in partnership with landscape designers Openfabric.

For more on this story, go to World Architecture News.