Zhangzhou ITG Top Mansion | Shanghai POWER5 Landscape Technology Co. Ltd | World Design Awards 2023

Shanghai POWER5 Landscape Technology Co. Ltd: Runner-Up of World Design Awards 2023. Zhangzhou is a city in harmony with the world and full of imagination. The earthen building life we are familiar with seems poetic and introverted, accompanied by rouge walls, swallowtail houses, riding corridors, etc. The city developed a resilient yet delicate personality through the integration of domestic and overseas cultures.

The project is situated in the intersection of the old and new urban boundaries based on two considerations: ① To continue the old city’s cultural context and maintain its calm and honest personality; ② To bring a new image to the city’s core region. Meanwhile, the plot is a 170m*20m strip with complicated situations in the old city district. Thus, how to artfully use the limited space and bring a safe, comfortable walking space to citizens bring grim challenges to the design. Hence the design abandons flashy symbols but adopts a more unique perspective to select the clues with higher symbolic significance and are more consistent with Zhangzhou’s local personality. It has successfully created a section of an urban garden walkway through the riding gallery.

The rouge brick is a common element seen in almost all streets and alleys of old Zhangzhou. The fired brick carries a unique diagonal pattern and obvious Southern Fujian characteristics. The design abstracted the rouge symbol to create a façade decoration pattern—the rouge screen. The screen’s projection and the water flow’s patterns jointly reappear an old yet ancient memory.

The curve of the swallowtail ridge rises slightly upward in a flat manner till the highest point of both ends. This curve is introverted and graceful, with a strong design sense. Such curves are designed to create landscape sketches. Besides, basic symmetry is adopted to ensure the swallowtail curves appear in pair. Lastly, swallowtail wall lamps, swallowtail corridor pillars, swallowtail landscape walls, and other landscape sketches are added.

As for the large window view in the reception zone, one can appreciate the side face of the swallowtail waterfall. The light curve guides water overflown from the top into the pool. The sound of bubbling water guides people to walk into the inner corridor and appreciate the front of the flowing water. The flowing water’s front integrates the dark veins of rouge symbols. When water flows across the surface, special water waves appear, implying the integration of urban and community cultures. The landscape corridor with complex functions is surrounded by a curved screen wall. A large expanse of light and shadows shine in the inner corridor space, presenting the feel that time and space have integrated. The rouge patterns on the screen form a virtual-form contrast, adding an artistic filter to the landscape behind the screen. The light and water landscape present a more unique and tasteful artistic style through soft curves.

A diverse and open public space is built to better integrate into modern life, rejuvenating the place and driving the surrounding commercial development which also provides people with new recreational venues.