Woods Bagot has won an international competition to design China Southern Airport City, a 400-hectare, mixed-use development on the Liuxi River, Guangzhou, China.
The city design is about 3.8 million square metres and expands China Southern’s traditional corporate headquarters to an urban scale, blending business and manufacturing uses with lifestyle and residential components. The masterplan organizes the neighbourhoods of the city into three precincts and takes a “concentrated city” approach. Positioned within a natural setting, the city is both functional and an uplifting environment for people to visit and work in.
“Transport, travel and communication are at the forefront of a connected city,” said Woods Bagot senior associate Kirsty White. “The rise of these ‘concentrated cities’ – where a variety of commercial, retail, residential and community facilities are present – are seeping into the Asia Pacific urban landscape … the success will hinge on smart urban design and, essentially, an efficient use of resources.”
Woods Bagot beat high-profile international firms such as Zaha Hadid Architects and Aéroports de Paris with Paul Andreu to win the competition, which builds on the commitment for a solid partnership between China and Australia following a 2010 announcement by Tourism Australia and China Southern Airlines regarding realizing the potential for travel between the two countries.
