Masterplan for the area along the Grand Canal
The city of Hangzhou, southwestof Shanghai is the capital of the province of Zheijang with 6 million inhabitants (date 2009). The 1800 km long Grand Canal that connects Beijing with the lush Hangzhou begins here. It is considered a masterpiece of hydraulic engineering from ancient China and it is the longest artificial waterway in the world. The objective of the competition was to design a new quarter in the North of Hangzhou along the Grand Canal. Because of the the new planning the industrial northern part of the city should connect with the qualities of the new western part and should serve as an impulse for the whole northern region.
In accordance with the general principle of “Island between green and water”, a city system was developed with eight living worlds, three main axes, three centers and one „green heart“ for the Newtown. Via a green system, the unarable areas are linked with the surrounding landscape. The canal bank design changes between a hard, urban edge and soft, green bank parks. Heart of the green system is the “Industrial-Eco-Park” that is linked to the CBD area with its built bridge over the Grand Canal.
The Central Business District (CBD) is well developed at the heart of the area- between freeway and Grand Canal - and will be the figurehead for future enlargement towards the north. Three enormous “crane houses” represent the center of the North and refer to its industrial past. The central area is supported by the sub center in the ancient port, the docklands, located in the south that tie in with the existing city.
The central axis is the extended arm of Hangzhou, the “Li Shui” quayside. It continues to the North and - divided into different sequences – connects the sub centers with the „green heart“. To the East of the canal lies the CBD axis, divided into Central Boulevard and the limited-traffic bank promenade, connecting to the “pleasure island”. In contrast to this tourism and business world-marked axis ,a third axis emerges along the Lakeland in the western part . It is the north-south connection between the residential island on the waterfront and the residential areas in the park. The central ring traffic around the CBD and the „green heart“ interweaves the main axes with the eight island worlds.
