The Hong Kong Chapter of the American Institute of Architects (AIA) has awarded the Dalian Future City Masterplan its 2011 Merit Award for Urban Design.
An
awards ceremony was recently held at The Rotunda, Exchange Square in Hong Kong where Director of Urban Design Steve Townsend proudly accepted the award on behalf of Woods Bagot and client, Dalian Lecity Development Co., Ltd.
This year, the jurors selected twelve winners from four design award categories – architecture, interior architecture, urban design and unbuilt projects across two award levels, Honor and Merit. In addition, Sustainable Design Awards were presented in partnership with design recognition to encourage sustainable principles and revitalisation.
The jury selected Dalian Future City with this consideration: "We specifically appreciated the urban integration of the green buffer of this design to encourage walking through the city, and the dialogue with the natural elements. It was a sense of meaning of this beautiful site completely natural and integrated with the ideal. But that if one had to build a city on the site the approach developed with the green fields allowing natural activity throughout was thorough and thoughtfully explored."
The 10km2 Dalian Future City Masterplan encourages the city's expansion by complementing the existing centres of civic life. Given the topographically rich site, the masterplan starts by respecting the existing natural setting, minimising environmental impact and celebrating watersheds. The masterplan’s variety and diversity of flexible neighbourhood grids nurtures next generation industries and lifestyle standards, with integrated sustainable communities, encompassing aspects of live, work, play innovation and learning.
Each cluster manifests its own character and identity and allows the area to gain market relevance over time. They each aim to attract a different slice of the growing market to help companies attract and retain a widening range of talents. The city's regional position is enhanced with an additional business subcentre, kicking off a chain of economic activity, completing the role of Dalian Future City as a new heart for western Dalian.
Steve Townsend explains: "Our approach to this new town development was first to religiously respect the outstanding topographic challenges and build on them to create wonderfully distinctive neighbourhoods where you would live within minutes of open space, recreation, or cultural amenities. This yielded a masterplan that was as much about lifestyle as it was about the creative shaping of physical space."