The Skyline – Shenzhen Bay HQs
One of the most notable China’s urbanisation initiatives is the Guangzhou-Hong Kong-Macau-Shenzhen ‘Greater Bay Area’ in southern China, which covers the country’s most open and economically vibrant region. The area is home to some 68 million people and has a combined gross domestic product of about $1.5 trillion, roughly equivalent to that of Australia or South Korea.
The Shenzhen Bay Area central piece of 107 hectares has been approved as Shenzhen’s leading finance and technology headquarters. All infrastructural provisions for cars and trains are nearly completed, while most buildings, public spaces and pedestrian infrastructure have not been considered yet.
The Skyline masterplan is introducing new standards of connecting multileveled pedestrian infrastructure, combining city block courts with underground public transport and designated elevated pathways for pedestrian and cyclists only.
The multidirectional connectivity is happening horizontally and vertically. To avoid the disruptive nature of the fast traffic, the Skyline suggests nearly mathematical design system for the pedestrian flow; a diagonal stream of fast connections, which provide an uninterrupted and very efficient connective system, that creates a new character and public realm of the area. The diagonal shortcuts and multidirectional connections are more rational as they seem at first glance. In reality, they provide space and time-saving. Connections between urban block and buildings are maximised in walking proximities and minimized in material requirements, providing more porosity to the street level.
