Champion Announced for Future ShanShui City International Urban Design Competition

Published on November 25, 2020

On November 3rd, 2020, after successfully holding the Award Ceremony and the Shanshui City Theme Forum in Lishui, the site of the competition, the Future ShanShui City • Dwellings in Lishui Mountains International Urban Design Competition finally came to a successful conclusion after more than seven months.

About Future ShanShui City • Dwellings in Lishui Mountains International Urban Design Competition:

As an important birthplace and practical realization of the concept "lucid waters and lush mountains are invaluable assets," Lishui has assumed the responsibility of exploring the construction of contemporary ShanShui cities. With this background in mind, we hope to build upon Lishui’s status as a “traditional Chinese ShanShui city” to organically combine the spirit of Chinese ShanShui together with contemporary waterfront urban development concepts. The goal is to methodically construct a ShanShui city spatial framework in order to set a model image for this city typology, to create a new ShanShui city lifestyle, and to explore contemporary, sustainable urban planning strategies.

Timeline of "Dwellings in Lishui Mountains":

In August 2019, "Dwellings in Lishui Mountains" project planning and construction work began in the city's leisure area near the Ou River, spreading over 38 kilometers. In December 2019, the first phase of the overall planning of the "Dwellings in Lishui Mountains" was completed.

On May 20th, 2020, the official announcement of the second phase of the Future ShanShui City • Dwellings in Lishui Mountains International Urban Design Competition was released to the world. In less than a month after the announcement, 657 individuals and 379 companies from all over the world had registered on the competition website.

Entries closed on July 20th, 2020, with 141 companies and six groups of individual entrants from around the world for a total of 87 concept proposals. On July 27th, 2020, after the pre-review, 10 finalists were determined. On November 2nd, 2020, the Top 10 contestants were evaluated and scored by the jury of 9 masters to select the Top 3 winners of the Dwellings in Lishui Mountains International Urban Design Competition.

Winners:

First Prize: China Academy of Urban Planning & Design
Theme: Flowing Shanshui of Glorious Future Super Shanshui Park

"Based on the traditional camping city concept, Lishui's regional characteristics, and the future mode of living, we will deepen our thinking about the new ShanShui city. According to the plan, ShanShui means not only the physical environment. The future Chinese plan for a new ShanShui city will:

Be based on the foundation of ecology
Build a whole territory habitat
Rely on the shape of mountains and rivers, manifest the ShanShui pattern
Light up the beauty of human settlements and depict a glamorous future

"Stream Fish Habitat," "ShanShui Unit," and "Flowing Light Scroll," are the three major strategies to anchor the ecological network and urban and rural development skeleton on both sides of the Ou River, to build the future life of the 'Super ShanShui Park!'"

Second Prize: OLIVIER GREDER
Theme:【The Lishuisis】A symbiotic urban change

"A ShanShui aesthetic can be feigned, but not a ShanShui land use or space layout, which results through the regime of necessity. In my proposal, land use or space layout are guided by the regime of necessity and will not fluctuate with capricious fashion effects or trendy concepts, nor surrender to economic diktats and profits. The overall project is a “ShanShui” land-use strategy based on preservation and rejuvenation of what is left from nature and countryside. Elements include:

Siyao Wellness Town
Qianwu Recreative Town
Sidu Magic Valleys
Zhongan Expo Park Town
Gucheng ShanShui Recreation Island"

Third Prize: South China University of Technology + POLITECNICO DI TORINO – Department of Architecture and Design
Theme: Prosperous Lishui

"The general plan of the new Lishui shows how the three main spaces of the project (the valley, the residential settlements, and the ecological system) adapt to the existing city and its main infrastructures for mobility, without compromising the environmental integrity of the mountains. The result is a new metropolitan area that moves its core from the old city to a large central agricultural park conceived as a huge, highly specialized and technological platform for production, research and leisure."

Top 10：

BOERI Architecture Design Consulting(Shanghai) CO., LTD. + TONGJI Architectural Design (Group) CO.,LTD. + WWSZ (Beijing) Culture & Tourism Development CO., LTD.
China Architecture Design & Research Group
Eco Systems Design Studio (ESD) Ltd + Cai Yongjie
Canada GA city planning and Landscape Design Co., Ltd. Hangzhou Representative Office + Zhejiang Province Institute of Architectural Design and Research, ZIAD
DE-SO Asia Design Consultant Joint Stock Company + DDON Planning & Design Inc.
UNStudio + Gross Max + Systematica
Architectural Design and Research Institute of Tsinghua University

The exhibition of the final results of the competition will be held in the near future in Lishui, including the Top 10 competition works. More competitions about the Ou River are also in preparation, for follow-up details please pay attention to "Lishuishanjutu" WeChat public account and get more details here.