Eco City Master Plan

Location: Binhai, Tianjin, China
Type: Invited International Competition, Shared 1.st Prize. 2014 WAF / World Architecture Festival finalist
Size: 50 Acres
Program: Museum, Exhibition, Sports Center, Hotel, Library & Financial District
Client: Developer Sino Singapore
Budget: Withheld
Status: Ongoing

The Eco City Binhai Master Plan is situated outside Tianjin in Northern China covering an area of 50 acres. The plan incorporates a new Central Business District (CBD) as well as five new cultural buildings, ranging from 15.000 M2 to 25.000 M2, including a Library, Planning Museum, Technology Exhibition Museum and a Sports & Cultural Center.

The proposed ‘finger plan’ mimics an open, outstretched, hand, creating an environment that directly integrates nature and living. This design allows the green areas to slide in-between each finger, inviting direct interaction throughout the day and night and creates five islands that house the cultural buildings. The direct access to the green surroundings makes the Eco City Master Plan distinctive and affords its future inhabitants a vibrant and healthy place to live, work and play.

The entire master plan sits on a raised plateau, allocating traffic and service to a lower level, establishing the new Eco City Master Plan as a green pedestrian oasis within the new Binhai area development. In this way, each of the new cultural buildings are closely connected to the new Central Business District below the raised plateau, sharing both loading and parking areas.

As part of the design strategy, both the CBD and the cultural buildings are all designed to minimize energy use and incorporate ideas of passive building design, utilizes solar panels and geothermal heating and cooling. These strategies allow for the overall master plan to achieve near zero CO2 impact on the environment.