UFO + CR-design awarded highest prize in shenzhen super city competition

UFO + CR-design awarded highest prize in shenzhen super city competition
all images courtesy of urban future organization and CR-design

urban future organization (UFO) and CR-design have worked alongside a small team of computing and regenerative design experts from sweden’s chalmers technical university to envision the shenzhen bay super city. the collaboration has resulted in ‘cloud citizen’, a project that has been awarded the highest prize in the skyscraper competition. the proposal calls for a green, hyper dense, three-dimensional community in a plot of land across from hong kong. according to the architects, ‘cloud citizen is as much a strategy for how to build future cities capable of giving back more to the environment than they cost, as it is a singular iconographic mega building complex with an identifiable and striking skyline giving character and hope to the vision of a greener future enabled by human enterprise.’

definition of the boardwalk and waters edge

the brief asked for a 170-hectare financial district including three high-rise structures, several cultural buildings, as well as a landscape linking to the surrounding context. more specifically, the team believes that their approach can become a central hub of activity that can rival other locations around the world such as la defence paris, canary wharf london, ECB frankfurt area, and the presnensky district in moscow. the new interconnected site acts as the next step in the development of the area from being production-oriented towards a modern service-oriented, high-tech, green metropolis.

the silhouette from across the bay

the work confronts the traditional way of building large cities and stretches the borders of personalization, communication, and densification of architecture deemed necessary to approach the ideal of regenerative design. aligning with these ideals, the hub offers a spatially and programmatically diverse alternative to prevalent high rise monocultures. instead, it consists of one mega structure creating a third dimension of the city reaching 680 meters into the sky.

looking down from the 680 m tower

‘cloud citizen’ is a continuous synthetic lifestyle with programmed public space suspended in the air, comprising both offices for an envisioned IT industry cluster, commercial, leisure, and cultural facilities. each civic amenity provides a profound identity and acts as a catalyst for small and big businesses. the overall scale is broken down into individual units and a large variety of locations develops a unique environment for interaction and creativity. each communal area is connected with a park that acts like a green communication network in symbiosis.

creating a gateway to the new city

as an integral part of the urban ecosystem, the proposal also has the ability to harvest rainwater and produce power from the sun, wind, and algae. in addition, it stores carbon and filters particles from the air while housing sanctuaries for wild plants and food production modules. by implementing these mechanisms, the architects were able to place shelters throughout the exterior terraces in order to place visitors, residents, and workers in close proximity to nature, leisure, and healthier lifestyles.

overwhelming on approach by boat

adding to the city skyline

porosity used for integration of biodiversity

the organization of the city district

the complex from hong kong wedding square

concept diagram 

plan and spatial variation

project info:

architecture: urban future organization, CR-design
collaborators: karin hedlund, lukas Nordström, pedram seddighzadeh of chalmers technical university
visualization: expedite technology co.
type: three mixed use towers and adjoining linear park
area: 1.7 million sqm
height: 680 meters, 580 meters, and 480 meters

designboom has received this project from our ‘DIY submissions‘ feature, where we welcome our readers to submit their own work for publication. see more project submissions from our readers here.