Tall & Urban News

Mengzhuiwan, a riverfront neighborhood in Chenghua district of Chengdu, is mainly residential and has little interaction with the river that flows through it. LWK + PARTNERS’ regeneration master plan aims to transform it into a beating heart of the community with a fresh, vibrant urban identity.

The Mengzhuiwan regeneration master plan is inspired by musical movement. Programmatic spaces are planned around the design concept, “Symphony of Dreams,” to preserve and enliven the area’s art, culture, entertainment, and commerce.

Three existing landmarks of the area will be renovated into three urban anchor nodes with new programming and redesigned façades.

The 339-meter West Pearl Tower is the central landmark and will be conceived as the “Tower of Dream.” The façade will be redesigned to incorporate programmable LED panels.

The State Taxation Administration Building will become the “Gateway of Nostalgia.” The cluster of public buildings and factories will be revamped into a mixed-use complex of hotels, restaurants, exhibition and studio spaces for creative industries. While the structure will remain, the façades will be updated with LEDs and balconies.

The Tong Mei Building will be positioned as the “Window to the World” where an internationally branded hotel is housed. The new façade will feature perforated metal panels and hanging planters.

In homage to the area’s culture and heritage, the master plan references the surrounding cultural and industrial facilities of the Chenghua district with buildings and landscape revitalized in a modern-industrial style. Traditional elements associated with the factory environment such as copper, wood, exposed concrete, bricks and perforated materials are combined with steel and glass to articulate building façades, interior decorations and streetscape.

In addition to upgrading the built environment, the renewal process also includes reviving the natural ecology eroded by previous processes of urbanization. Mengzhuiwan’s regeneration plan involves a 2.5-kilometer riverfront site along the Jin River, making the waterscape a central design element.

The pinnacle of the waterfront experience is an elevated walkway called the “Fantasy Silk Road,” which connects multiple landmarks and points of interest.

For more on this story, go to LWK + Partners.