GMA ARCHITECTURAL & URBAN DESIGN: Winner of World Design Awards 2024. A Bustling City, A Beacon of Aesthetics Yangzhou, also known as “Guangling” in ancient times, is situated at the confluence of rivers, renowned for its extensive history and unique garden art. The splendid landscape of the Slender West Lake and the distinct scenery of Geyuan Garden are both mesmerizing. With a rich history, the canal of Yangzhou passes through the city, and the ancient and modern buildings on both sides complement each other, showcasing the perfect blend of the city’s historical and contemporary cultures.

1. Project Location

The Willow Shores Yangzhou is situated in the Shuangqiao South Subdistrict, Hanjiang District, within the core region where Yangzhou’s old and new towns merge. It is surrounded by the Yangzhou Municipal Government, Hanjiang District Government, Yangzhou City Cultural Center, and other cultural landmarks. The site has a rich cultural heritage and offers a vibrant scene with places like Wenchang Pavilion, Living Mall, Wanda Plaza, and other commercial areas. With comprehensive and diverse facilities, the residents can enjoy the city’s lively atmosphere leisurely.

2. Master Planning

The site is situated near the Xincheng River, where tea houses, bookshops, liquor stores, and other facilities are located. The city’s water system connects the versatile urban life, creating a vibrant atmosphere. Based on the site’s conditions, the designer team leveraged the urban landscape and local cultural resources to create a serene environment amidst the hustle and bustle, seamlessly blending with the context and resulting in an orderly architectural layout.

The project comprises two plots, one in the east and the other in the west, including residential buildings, community amenities and commercial facilities. The land area covers 86,600 square meters, with a gross floor area of 206,308 square meters and a floor area ratio of 1.6. The site is surrounded by high-rise residential buildings of 15 to 18 floors, while the central area is predominately 8 to 10-story western-style buildings, creating a transition from the bustling city to a peaceful serene life. Echoing the city fabric, the planning layout takes into account the central axis of traditional communities as well as the flexibility to adapt to local conditions. The north-south design presents a clever misalignment, which ensures the integrity of the large-scale central garden and creates a flexible sense of space with different scenery at every step.

The planning and design approach adhered to the principles of landscape vividness and maximizing the residential concept. Only fire engine access is designed inside the park, which is integrated with the landscape. Vehicles can enter the underground garage near the entrance and exit of the community to achieve a sense of transparency and continuity in the landscape. Combining landscape design with the laneway pedestrian system creates visual coherence and effectively realizes the functional requirements for traffic organization and diverging. It also facilitates neighborhood interactions and leisure activities, creating more possibilities for communication and interaction among residents, therefore building a cozy home.

3. Design Highlights

The modern minimalist architectural style breaks away from the conventional hierarchical concept of space and presents a “no-boundary” look and feel. This is achieved through carefully designed proportions of oversized windows and walls which help to extend the field of vision. The glass windows complement the surrounding landscape and together create a “great beauty and simplicity” that serves as a beacon of urban aesthetics.

Responding to the planning requirements and the surrounding conditions, the design team set the main entrances of the two plots on Zongyi Road, and they cleverly combined the living arts center with the main entrance of the west plot to create a unique healing experience like a resort hotel. The design conveys a sense of unbounded nature and hidden comfort, while also presenting an elegant appearance through the transitions through the courtyard and entrance hall. Furthermore, the project has carefully built an underground club of nearly 1,500 square meters that caters to diverse needs such as swimming pools, fitness, negotiations, and private banquets. The high-quality supporting amenities and atmosphere provide homeowners with a richer and higher-quality living experience.

4. Design Challenge

Handling the relationship between buildings and streets is a perpetual challenge in design, particularly within a city. This project aims to soften the rigid and cold urban interface, allowing for a more intimate connection between the city, streets, and individuals. By doing so, it resolves the loneliness that sometimes exists between people and the city and offers greater flexibility in privacy and publicity. Ultimately, the project strives to create a more humane and livelier urban environment that not only provides a comfortable living space but also promotes community exchanges and enhances urban cohesion.

As urbanization develops, the contrast and conflict between new residential concepts and the existing city pattern create a vivid blend of order, realizing the integration between housing and the city from a differentiated perspective. There are both vibrant routine life and new prosperity, retaining the roots of the city while maintaining possibilities for the future.

Project Details:-
Firm
GMA ARCHITECTURAL & URBAN DESIGN

Architect
Zou Daoming, Cao Xiaomin, Yu Kai

Project Name
The Willow Shores Yangzhou

Project Category
Residential Multi-Family Concept

Team
Chief Designer: Zou Daoming, Cao Xiaomin, Yu Kai Design team: Zou Daoming, Cao Xiaomin, Yu Kai, Mao Qiuyu, Wu Anming, Chen Hongbin, Xu Chenghao, Zhang Xuxin, Zhu Xuan

Project Location
Yangzhou

Country
China

Photography ©Credit
GMA ARCHITECTURAL & URBAN DESIGN

GMA was established in 2012. It is an architectural design grade—A agency dedicated to exploring relationship between architecture, human settlements, and urban & rural areas. GMA takes both creativity design and project management as two development direction, and builds design master and cultivates professional design teams. The projects cover high—end residences, commercial offices, boutique hotels, leisure and cultural tourism, and social welfare, and the projects are all over the country including most provinces and cities. Most of the works won various domestic and international design awards.

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