ADEPT plans looping masterplan for Chinese city district

News: Danish architecture studio ADEPT has won a competition to masterplan a 17 square-kilometre district in the Chinese city of Hengyang with designs that involve a sequence of looping zones.

Green Loops City by ADEPT

The Green Loops City encompasses a site straddling the Xiangjiang river in the Laiyan New Town and Binjian districts of the city, which is part of Hunan Province. ADEPT plans to divide the site into a number of blob-like zones with themes such as sport or culture, intended to match up with the features of each area.

Green Loops City by ADEPT

Historical buildings such as pagodas and a library will be retained and celebrated, while existing farmlands, rivers and wetlands are to be integrated into the urban fabric rather than eradicated.

Green Loops City by ADEPT

“Much of Hengyang’s cultural and natural resources are still very much intact when compared to other Chinese cities facing rapid urban development,” said ADEPT partner Aidi Su. “This is an incredible opportunity for us to make a difference in Chinese cities.”

Green Loops City by ADEPT

The architects developed a series of principles to ensure a coherent design strategy. These include designing sustainable transportation; creating a denser urban network; maintaining cultural heritage; developing new and existing communities; implementing a denser urban life; preserving and enhancing the natural landscape; creating new ecological system using existing water networks; and connecting to surrounding neighbourhoods.

Green Loops City by ADEPT

Combined, the loops will offer a logical network of spaces that are straightforward to navigate by car, bicycle or on foot.

Green Loops City by ADEPT

“When walking around and experiencing this area you meet the fantastic inherent values and qualities that already exist here,” said architect Martin Lauresen. “I believe that we – by our approach preserving both cultural and historical structures and already built residential communities – can create a new part of Hengyang that bases the future on the history, integrating modern lifestyle with cultural traditions.”

Green Loops City by ADEPT

ADEPT is a Copenhagen-based studio. Other projects they’ve worked on include a library in Sweden and a leisure complex in Denmark.

Green Loops City by ADEPT

Other city masterplans proposed for China include a car-free “satellite city” to be built from scratch near Chengdu and a business centre in the Longgang district of Shenzhen. See more architecture in China »

Green Loops City by ADEPT
Site masterplan – click for larger image

Here’s more text from ADEPT:


ADEPT wins 17km2 planning competition in China with the proposal ‘Green Loops City’

The municipality of Hengyang, Hunan Province, China, chose ADEPT as winners of the planning competition of the 17km2 site of Laiyan New Town and Binjian District in Hengyang. The proposal ‘Green Loops City’ links the new urban areas through attractive and diverse landscape loops. The competition was invited and included large planning offices: Hassel Architects (Australia), Aube Architects (France), Guangzhou Urban Planning Design Institute (China), and Guangzhou South Kecheng (China).

Green Loops City by ADEPT
Design concept – infrastructure

The translated quote from the Hengyang municipality: “The concept ‘Green Loops City’ is developed by the Danish architectural firm ADEPT and provided the best and most suitable planning proposal for Hengyang by capturing its unique cultural heritage using a sustainable planning method. Jury experts from the most prestigious universities and organisations in China voted in favour of the ADEPT proposal. The mayor of the city stressed the importance of the future for this area, and emphasised the need to create a new city able to offer commercial, culture, tourism and leisure.”

Green Loops City by ADEPT
Design concept – loops

Hengyang is a city of many cultural artifacts with pagodas, a library, and an academy making up an impressive list of historical buildings in the Laiyan New Town and Binjian District of Hengyang. Set within the background of these buildings is the beautiful nature of Hengyang with farmlands, mountains, wetlands, and rivers that have been all preserved until now. As Hengyang goes through rapid urban development and requires the need for new sub-cities to expand beyond the old town area, can we consider a sustainable urban development for the city that can preserve its natural and cultural qualities? Is it possible to preserve nature while at the same time expand the city?

Green Loops City by ADEPT
Design concept – mix of uses

Using a sustainable approach to planning cities, we have set up 8 principles to guide the design of the city. Designing sustainable transportation, creating a denser urban network, maintaining cultural heritage, developing new and existing communities, implementing a denser urban life, preserving and enhancing the natural landscape, creating new ecological system using existing water networks, and connecting to surrounding neighbourhoods. The urban principles are about creating a living strategy for development that could create a better future for Hengyang and the inhabitants of the city.

Green Loops City by ADEPT
Design concept – neighbourhoods

Combining the strategies of the 8 principles into a bigger concept, ‘Green Loops City’ attempts to link Hengyang’s unique characteristics, the landscape, the water, history, and culture, by creating important public spaces that are linked together. The green loops allow visitors to tour the special places in Hengyang while creating a more diverse city for locals to live.

Green Loops City by ADEPT
Design concept – green strategy

Each individual loop focus on a particular theme relating to the advantages of each area, for example a Culture, a Sports and a Sub-Cbd loop. The Culture loop attempts to connect the most important cultural buildings, pagoda, library, along with new bar street, restaurant street, to make a better connection, and bring more activity to the area. The Sports loop takes advantage of the natural river conditions in the area to create more enjoyable natural area to do sports, while also forming an important axis with the pagoda building. The Sub-Cbd loop creates a new way of working in the city, combining water canals, restaurants, shopping all in a convenient location with the new BRT route.

Green Loops City by ADEPT
Design concept – lakes and rivers

While each of the loops work individually, together the loops can form a larger green network – ‘Green Loops City’ – that can connect all the different parts of the city allowing visitors and locals to use. Connected together, pedestrians, and bicyclist can easily traverse through the city to visit each area.

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The City in the Building by ADEPT and Luplau & Poulsen

The City in the Building by ADEPT and Luplau & Poulsen

Danish architects ADEPT and Luplau & Poulsen have won a competition to design harbour-side housing blocks in their hometown of Aarhus.

The City in the Building by ADEPT and Luplau & Poulsen

The proposed development, collectively titled the City in the Building, will include an assortment of uncomplicated brick buildings that surround a shared courtyard.

The City in the Building by ADEPT and Luplau & Poulsen

Shorter buildings located beside the water will accommodate apartments for families and senior citizens, while taller buildings behind will house students.

The City in the Building by ADEPT and Luplau & Poulsen

All residences are planned to be dual-aspect and every block will contain some sea-facing homes.

The City in the Building by ADEPT and Luplau & Poulsen

Greenhouses will be located on the roofs, beside solar panel arrays and rainwater collection units.

The project is due to complete in December 2013.

Other competition wins from ADEPT include a skyscraper of stacked cubessee all our stories about the architects here.

Here are some more words from ADEPT:


ADEPT and Luplau & Poulsen win 12,000 m2 residential project at Aarhus Harbour

Common greenhouses on the roof tops, adjacent terraces overlooking the bay of Aarhus, and a sheltered green courtyard – all in close proximity to downtown Aarhus. This is the essence of Brabrand Housing Association’s new residential complex that breaks with both the port’s massive scale, and present iconic building tendencies. The project is expected to be completed for inauguration in December 2013.

Wednesday November 2nd the Deputy Mayor Laura Hay revealed the winners of the competition at a reception at Aarhus City Hall. The winning team consists of the architects ADEPT and LUPLAU & POULSEN, turn-key contractor Dansk Boligbyg and NIRAS Consulting Engineers. The team has designed a project entitled The Port Dwellings – Housing for All at Harbour North, that consists of 238 public dwellings distributed between 83 apartments for families and +55 aged seniors, and 155 student-housing units.

The architects have taken the best aspects of the city’s existing block structure and reinterpreted it, providing a modern and sustainable expression on the waterfront in Aarhus Nordhavn. The simple building arrangement is complemented by shared greenhouses on the roof, varied building heights and sustainable initiatives that make the new dwellings robust and future-proof. The housing structure adapts to its context that, on the one hand, consists of large, industrial scale and on the other, a smaller and intimate scale with a lively maritime atmosphere.

“Placing the building volumes along the edge of the site proved to be highly appropriate for the location. It gathers the dwellings around a large green courtyard sheltered from the wind and creates the best sun and daylighting conditions for the apartments,” says Martin Laursen, partner of ADEPT. The development is being realized predominantly in brick, dropping in building height towards the water and the marina. As a consequence, the apartments furthest from the water, the youth homes share the extensive views. In addition, the building structure is subdivided into smaller buildings, marked by varying heights and subtle changes in façade expression. “The building’s division into smaller buildings relates to the human scale and creates affinities between the residents and the individual ‘town house’,” says Simon Lyager Poulsen, ADEPT’s project architect on the Port Dwellings.

The project differs from the bulk of existing and proposed port projects in that it does not attempt to be a major iconic building – an aspect of the scheme remarked upon positively by the developer and competition jury. Brabrand Housing Association has deliberately chosen to focus on a building that inserts itself in the port in a humble manner, challenging the large scale of the context by addressing the scale of inhabitants’ daily lives.

The family apartments are located in the lowest buildings, in close proximity to the water and the intimate scale of the marina. In this way children and parents have convenient access to activities at the waters edge, the forest and the inner courtyard. In addition, all roof surfaces are designed for shared-use amongst residents. The sunny roof surfaces are activated with greenhouses, common areas and living terraces with excellent views of the city, forest and bay. The remaining roofs are established as green surfaces both for collecting rain water and supporting solar panel arrays.

The settlement is a ‘zero-energy building,’ which, with it’s solar panels and greenhouses, takes more advanced steps toward meeting future energy requirements than those currently formulated by the municipality and the state government. Brabrand Housing Association expects the future settlement to meet the energy requirements of 2025 – an energy class yet to be formulated. At the same time the dwellings can be built within the allocated budget, which allows rents to be competitive.

Each apartment is lit from two sides and has private outdoor spaces overlooking the water and the common courtyard. The units range in size between 78m2 and 115 m2 and consist of 2, 3, 4 and 5 room apartments. Robust and flexible plan layouts ensure live-ability over the years, across generations and changing architectural trends. In these terms, the winning project offers both a robust, simple and coherent project as well as a varied and lively architecture.

Throughout the competition process, ADEPT and LUPLAU & POULSEN have enjoyed a close collaboration. LUPLAU & POULSEN has in recent years been responsible for several new Brabrand Housing Association projects. “We are delighted to continue the strong cooperation with Brabrand Housing Association,” says Jørn Lyager Poulsen, partner responsible for the housing project at LUPLAU & POULSEN. The three partners in ADEPT, who all come from Aarhus are, like LUPLAU & POULSEN, excited about the opportunity to build in their hometown and to contribute to the development of the waterfront in Aarhus.