Rhinescheme Yearbook 2012 / 2013

c h i n a p

2012/

YEARBOOK

r o j e c t s

/2013

rhinescheme

Dear reader, This small yearbook which has a lot of parents – a magazine rather than a book – is a trial; a trial that will hopefully become more and more consistent over the years. The idea behind is not so much to celebrate ourselves, but to give you some insights about working as designers for various fields in China – as designers with foreign background, be it as Europeans or as Chinese who studied and/or worked abroad. We address ourselves to our esteemed clients with a big Thank You for the great chances they have given to us, to all kinds of potential clients who – by the help of this booklet - get to know and hopefully appreciate our design approach, to all our staffs with much gratitude for their engagement under the permanent pressure that is typical for this market. We also address to the Press, to print and other media that seem to find our work more and more interesting, to colleagues who may share similar project experiences with us, and behind that to everybody interested in the rich sphere of activities when designing spaces for human beings. The purpose behind this booklet is to tell a little you more about the projects we did in the past one or two years, more than just flashing with some impressive pictures. Instead telling you some of the stories behind, why and how we did things, sometimes in an innovative way, sometimes in a rather pragmatic manner. The following pages also tell you something about shifting tasks in times of financial crises, and how medium-sized design companies can find different ways to maintain their position. Last not least also the composition of projects as a whole is revealing something about the big variety, the countless surprises and the apparently boundless opportunities that are still symptomatic for this country. RhineScheme architects & urban planners GmbH Beijing, December 2013 Wolf Loebel / Li Ran

5

YEARBOOK 2

7awards comp

Tianjin CulturaXixi Exhibition Changchun Hil

CONT

2012/2013

7l d

29jleted projects

urban planning

Wuhan Smart CityWenzhou Movie TownTianjin Tractor Park

al Centre Centrels

Tianjin Tractor ParkJinnan Eco-EstateQingdao Hotel ComplexHengqin Mixed-Use

ENTS

YEARBOOK 2

9163j teaprojects

architecture

IPPH office buildingXiamen Wukuang TowerBMW service centresYizhuang S&T CentreYizhuang S&T CentreDongli Industrial ProjectsJunzhuang Winery Villas

CONT

2012/2013

1am

ENTS

AWARDS

Up to date, the ELITE Award, regarded as Chinese “Habitat Nobel Prize”, is the only approved National Science & Technology Award for habitat and urban construction in China. In a festive ceremony in Renaissance Hotel, RhineScheme (together with its local partner, Sunlay Architecture) was awarded the 10th ELITE Science & Technology Award in Gold – the highest prize – in the category ‘Architectural Design’ for its just completed ‘Hangzhou Xixi Exhibition Centre’. About 600 industry celebrities and business representatives attended the award ceremony and the related Charity Dinner. The award is organized by ‘ELITE Habitat Development Foundation’, a private non-profit organization supervised by the Beijing Municipal Science & Technology Association, an organi-zation that promotes scientific and technological progress in Chinese built environment. 355 companies applied for the award, 89 were shortlisted, 8 of them were awarded in different categories.

Beijing December 4th, 2013

Already a well-established event since 2007, property leaders from the Asia Pacific region gather in Hong Kong every year in late autumn for the two days ‘MIPIM Asia’ real estate summit. As steady component of the summit, the traditional Gala Dinner on the evening of the first day has been held in Grand Hyatt Hotel with almost 500 guests. The splendid event is at the same time award ceremony for the annual ‘MIPIM Asia Award’ celebrating Asia’s best and brightest real estate projects, and rewarding innovation and achievement in various fields - selected from more than 150 candidates. This year Rhinescheme was awarded the 7th MIPIM Asia Award in Bronze in the category ‘Best Urban Regeneration Project’ for its ‘Tianjin Cultural Centre’ that has been already winning another important Prize some months ago (see below).

Hong Kong November 5th, 2013

For 60 years now, the German Design Council (Deutscher Rat für Formgebung) has championed holistic environmental design. Launched at the initiative of the German Parliament in the 1950s and founded by the German industry, it is task of this non-profit organization to promote, by means of good design, the quality of our environment. With its newly created Iconic Award the Council is focusing on outstanding, exemplary architecture and its integration in the urban, cultural and economic context. The Iconic Awards is the first neutral international architecture and design competition that focuses on how the disciplines interact. The Prize is aimed to honor the icons of our days. Against this backdrop, RhineScheme feels honoured to be Winner of ICONIC Awards 2013 in the category “Urban Planning Concept” with its ‘Tianjin Cultural Centre’ completed in 2012.

Frankfurt July 16th, 2013

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AWARDS

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East shore with the vast flight of steps of the Grand Theatre

Satellite view

location: Hexi District of Tianjin /

China

client: Tianjin Planning Bureau

project numbers: 2012 + 4006

project type: Int’l urban planning &

landscape competition

two 1st prizes 2008/2009

and subsequent design

commission

design: 2008.6 – 2011.3

close of construction: 2012.5

awards: ‘Iconic Award’ 2013 by

the German Design

Council / Deutscher

Rat für Formgebung

(winner in the category

Urban Planning Concept)

‘MIPIM asia award’2013

(Bronze winner

in the category

‘Best Urban Regeneration

Project’ in Asia)

scope of services: Overall Urban and Traffic

Concept, Deepened

Urban Framework

Planning, Conceptual

Building Design as basis

and guideline for the

subsequent tendering of

individual architectural

competitions, Landscape

& Open Space Planning

and Water Management

of the entire Culture Park

planning area: 4.65 km² (competition

scope urban planning) /

0.9 km² (landscape and

deepened urban planning

GFA: 690.000 m² + 160.000

m² underground (new

construction)

urban design team: Ran Li, Wolf Loebel,

Jinping Li, Lei Yang,

Jingting Yuan, Andreas

Bittis, Lukasz Piasta,

Marta Niedbalec, Frédéric

Ripperger, Christian

Schaller, Joachim Koob,

Stefan Schmitz

landscape team: Atelier Dreiseitl /

RhineScheme GmbH

local design institute: TUPDI (Tianjin Urban

Planning & Design

Institute)

During the first decade of the 21st century, the city government of Tianjin – neighbour city of Beijing with 13 million inhabitants – was facing new challenges and saw its task as creating a new urban legacy for this century. As part of an overall urban revival, the City Development Bureau was looking for an entirely new masterplan concept for the Litang District, a central city area adjacent to the City Hall. By its unique quality as front yard of the city government, moreover as name card, foyer and living room of the whole city, this planning task had become the most important and prestigious for Tianjin in the first two decades of 21. To meet the goals and high expectations of the project, RhineScheme carefully composed an interdisciplinary team of urban planners, land-scape architects and architects. In addition to the structural shaping of the district with its attractive matrix of cultural, commercial, administrative and residential build-ings, top on the design agenda were human scale and ecological in-tegrity, with public transportation, resource conservation and energy management as defining issues.

Tianjin Cultural CentreTianjin / China

RhineScheme GmbHAm Hirzacker 5 D - 36132 Eiterfeldphone +49.6672.868470 fax 86 84 69

Representative Office China 3, Dong Binhe Lu 2-2-401 Beijing 100013 phone +86.10.84221360 fax 84 22 13 82

德国莱茵之华设计集团北京代表处

安定门东滨河路 3号院雍和家园 2-2-401 北京 100013电话 +86.10.84221360 传真 +86.10.84221382

[email protected] www.rhinescheme.com

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Northern Promenade with view towards Town Hall

Northern Promenade with Grand Theatre on the right side

East and south shore with new cultural buildings

The underlying master plan of the Cultural Centre - first prize of an international urban planning competition in 2008 won by Rhin-eScheme - focused on the “Cen-tral Park”. Tianjin has many smaller park areas, but this vast territory of-fered the unique chance to create something like a representative ‘garden salon’ for the whole city. To fulfill its public function, a core area with the dimensions of about 400 x 1200 meters has been kept as parquet free of any buildings: a generous, grand open space commensurate with the scale of a metropolis, able to accommo-date a variety of public events, like open air expositions, public celebrations, festivals, concerts, and public viewings.

A large lake is core feature and major attraction offering a lot of amenity potential, as well as be-ing a major ecological anchor for the site. Walking on the lakeside delights the senses as does the contrast between different areas where the lake has an architec-tural edge with promenade spac-es, or soft, naturalistic, contoured shorelines where nature takes center stage.






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Northern Promenade with view towards Grand Theatre

North-east view with Galaxy Mall and Grand Theatre

On the Eco-Island

The “Central Park” is framed by a pearl necklace of outstanding cul-tural buildings to the south and east, and by a commercial build-ing spine to the north. The lake in its heart is accom-panied by elevated terraces, on the north side following a huge arc-shaped promenade covering a shopping mall and facilities for the youth, in the south forming a more formal public boulevard lined by museums, library, and theatres. The Eastern edge creates the po-tential for spatial drama: A vast flight of steps in line with the glazed building front of the Grand Theatre is closing the frame of a park with almost rectangular con-tours. The encompassing buildings - consciously kept at a human scale - make up for an adequate, modest and low-rise architectural ‘stage setting’ of the park area, supported only in the background by the inevitable high-rises in the skyline of Chinese cities.






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Night view towards Town Hall with light-tower and sunken plazas

Northern Promenade with floating gardens

Northern Promenade - transition to Eco-Island

In its West the new civic park is embracing the existing Town Hall and an International Exhibition Centre. Only in the North-West-ern corner the landscape remains widely open to grant a free tran-sition to other existing park ar-eas. A slender new light-tower as visual focus in the axis of the surrounding main roads and as modern obelisk is meant to em-phasize and give hold to the open space of this transit area. The urban layout creates a cultur-al district of international esteem, integrating existing cultural and administrative buildings, and in-corporating a whole series of new facilities -cultural, public, com-mercial ones - as well a complex public transportation hub. A dynamic set of cultural spaces (indoor and outdoor) have been created that are interconnected and unified through the artful use of water as the core design ele-ment.






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On the Eco-Island

Ornamentally curved North Promenade - view towards Town Hall and light-tower

Evening view towards south shore - lake with water fountain

The site encompasses an area measuring about 1 km² with the 10 ha lake at the centre. A vast promenade winds through the site embracing the entire park composition, with its unique focal point at the Grand Theatre. The manifold landscape experience along the looping way is capti-vating its visitors: An ecological peninsula, gardens, plazas, and terraces are surrounding the lake and connect visitors to arts, sci-ence and history as well as enter-tainment, retail, dining and facili-ties for the youth. The landscape design seeks to humanize the city scale of Tian-jin. Within the large green struc-ture of the park, diverse typolo-gies of intimate green spaces provide opportunities for citizens to meet, communicate, enjoy fes-tivities and recreate in the middle of a busy city, show in public in large boulevards, or meditate in the quiet and serenity of intimate gardens. The whole site has been designed with human scale in mind. The emotive landscapes - dedicated to promoting cultural pursuits - also provide the simple pleasures of sport and recreation, includ-ing skating areas, picnicking sites and a host of other opportunities for generations to interact.






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View towards south shore

Eco-Island with Galaxy Mall

Terraces of the southern shore along the Library

The central lake is not only a major recreational resource, but moreover an essential element of the overall sustainable water management concept, unique in China in the realized dimension. Almost the whole accumulated storm water of the cultural dis-trict is stored, re-used, slowed down and drained off. Generous tree plantings are linking sub-surface, decentralized retention trenches which feed the lake via cleansing biotopes. The lake it-self is an enormous storm water feature, fed completely by rain-water, a balancing pond which can effortlessly handle a 1 in 10 years’ storm event and buffer a 1 in 100 years’ storm event. By this innovative system an expensive extension of the combined sew-erage system could be avoided. The lake has its own natural bi-ology and reduces temperature extremes and increasing outdoor comfort.






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South shore seen from the terrace of the Grand Theatre

On the Eco-Island

South-east view - lake with water fountain

The park design is partnering be-tween nature and civilization. It has aspects of beauty and utility, form and function; it is intuitive and dynamic, lending itself to a magical and animated interpreta-tion of nature in an urban envi-ronment.So, while the Culture Park is an international destination, it is de-signed with the people of Tianjin at its heart. The large park with its lake is a natural resource and a legacy which will benefit for the whole of Tianjin for generations to come. In the frame marked out by ur-banistic and landscape features, the design of Tianjin Culture Cen-tre does not “only” want to be re-sponsible in an eco-social sense. It is also responsive to the needs of people in the 21st century by incorporating a multitude of uses, and above all: It widens the sens-es to make its visitors feel what city could be if it is taken seri-ously: a dignified, communicative and joyful place for citizens.






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15

view from the waterside

location: Hangzhou / China

client: Hangzhou Xixi

National Wetland Park

Phase III Co., Ltd.

project number: 5023

project type: Int’l competition 1st prize


commission

design: 2008.8 – 2012.8

close of construction: 2013.10

award: ‘ELITE Award‘ 2013 in

Gold / category:

architecture

scope of services: Technical concept,

Preliminary Building

Design, principle

construction details,

construction drawings

check, interior design

guidelines

planning area: 1.09 ha (island)

GFA: 4,300 m²

directors: Wolf Loebel, Ran Li

design team: Wolf Loebel, Lukasz

Piasta, Marta Niedbalec

energy consultant: Gerhard Hoffmann

(ifes GmbH, Germany)

local design institute: SunLay Design, Beijing

If one is approaching the building from the waterside – coming by boat from the adjacent tourist harbour – the house will at first sight appear like a fata morgana, particularly when taking a glance with foggy au-tumn weather. Placed on an individual small island, it seems floating above the wide waterscape of the Wetland Park like an archaic ship.

The Visitors Centre of Xixi Park in Hangzhou (located not far from Shanghai within the Yangtze River Delta) is one of three small, iconic exhibition buildings placed around the Park, the last one after the pre-viously realized buildings by David Chipperfield and Arata Isozaki.

Last November, the building has been completely finished for the of-ficial hand-over proceeding and will be put to its future uses during the coming months.

Between the prize-winning design by RhineScheme (international competition in 2008) und the close of construction, a period of 5 years passed by, which is exceptionally long for the fast-developing China. The hesitant construction progress is due to the certification of the building with the highest LEED level (platinum). Up to date, in the whole huge country there is only a handful of buildings that can cope with this standard and with the equally planned zero energy / zero emission balance as well. As a result, there is simply not enough expe-rience with such technically advanced building types.

Xixi Exhibition CentreHangzhou / China






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site plan

view from above

Its location, Xixi Park, is the only Wetland Park in China and an at-traction for more than 1 million tourists annually. It is only a few kilometres from the city centre of Hangzhou with its famous West Lake, one of the biggest tourist highlights in China.The Visitors Centre on the edge of the Park is more than “only” a LEED-platinum-certified zero en-ergy building. Its location is too exposed and visually rich to be just a normal building; also the surrounding waterscape is too impressive, and its use by vast numbers of visitors contains too many chances. Situated just beside the main entrance towards the Park, the house shall serve mainly as first drop-in place for tourists and as exhibition centre that still needs a curator, but in which the build-ing itself will be one of the main exhibits. Beside that it hosts a branch of Zhejiang University (one of the oldest in China) for courses and seminars in the field of environmental and ecological studies.






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main hall with ramp

south-east facade with university entrance

As entrance building crossed by the majority of park visitors, the building is an important landmark within the spacious landscape area measuring almost 12 km². At the same time it is a symbol for the ecological understanding of the Park, and so-to-speak logo and icon of the entire area. Its ecological avant-garde is shown in a causal, but self-confi-dent manner:

The striking triangular shape is at first only visible from the air, or from some elevated view-point in the distance. Only by using the building, its basic shape will be memorized, especially in form of the vast glass roof which cov-ers the main exhibition area and which is equally triangular. It has an inclination towards south-west, and accordingly it exposes the integrated semi-transparent PV panels in the most efficient way.






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floor plans

main entrancenorth-west corner

main hall - view towards the entrance

The architecture takes the term ‘green building’ at its word: The delicately constructed timber façade seems almost melting with its surroundings; the house seems to grow directly out of the fertile soil with its lush veg-etation; the green roof is freely accessible for every visitor by a wide, grass-covered ramp. The generous green roof serves as additional and attractive open space and belvedere for tourists and students who van overlook the charming waterscape from an elevated perspective or have an undisturbed rest there.






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main entrance with ramp

university entrance

Whereas the moved roofscape is inspired by the silhouette of the close mountains, the wooden sun-protection elements of the façades connect the building di-rectly to its ground and its va-riety of groves. The density of the wooden louvers is changing dependent on the façade orien-tation: South and west façades appear more closed, while the northern building front is largely opened.The house has been sponsored by the local government as dem-onstration project and milestone for higher energy efficiency and sustainability.






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Community Club in refurbished factory buildingCommercial Plaza

location: Changchun / China

client: China Vanke

Real Estate Co., Ltd.

project numbers: 5027+4007+6003

project type: Int’l competition –

winning scheme,


commission

design: 2009.11 – 2010.6

close of construction: 2012.9 start-up area /

2013.10firstconstruction

stage

award: China Real Estate Award

2010 (Jilin Province)

scope of services: Urban Planning and

Building Design

(with Stefan Schmitz

Architects), Interior

Design (residential

lobbies),

Landscape Design (with

Atelier Dreiseitl)

planning area: 25.1 ha

landscape area: 184,000 m²

GFA: 480,000 m² (plus 76,000

m² underground areas)

directors: Wolf Loebel, Ran Li,

Remo Malnar

project team: Zhengwei Liu, Lukasz

Piasta, Bert Engels,

Jingping Li, Manh Tran,

Victor Tennorio, Jingting

Yuan, Lei Yang, Marta

Niedbalec, Yang Liu

‘Changchun Hills‘ is the name of a new type of mixed-use development in the industrial city of Changchun that is currently arising from the extensive ground of a factory which has been producing diesel engines from 1948 until 2010. Located in China’s north-eastern Jilin Province, halfway between the airport and the downtown area of Changchun, the former factory span-ning a total area of 25 ha is on the way to be transformed into a high-end mixed development, consisting of ‘Changchun Hills’ (a residen-tial compound including club, museum, kindergarten, and small-scale commercial) and ‘Changchun 1948’ (with reference to the factory’s year of foundation) which marries dining, entertainment, retail and offices.Thefirstconstructionstagehasbeencompletedinautumnof2013.Tailored to local culture and weather conditions and Changchun’s spe-cificurbanplanningtraditionswithRussianinfluence,theprojectisanoutstanding and rare example in China of transforming an abandoned industrial site into a successful mixed-use area. It is also a case study showing that the tremendous speed of economic change in China must not necessarily end up in the complete erasing of all memory of past forms of economizing. New for China and even more for the use of higher-income residents is the partial conservation of industrial buildings and the - throughout intended – visible exposure of industrial culture and old uses (even in an own small museum), as well as the mixture of residential and com-mercial functions in a zone of transition.A complex planning task resulted from the wining scheme of an exper-tise for the site, a task that has included urban planning, concepts for conversion and re-use, designing of residential buildings, landscape planning and even parts of the interior design.

Changchun HillsChangchun / China






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View towards north-west

Masterplan

Urban concept

It is in the nature of European planners to focus the attention on the industrial heritage found on-site; that was corresponding to the intention of the developer. Different strategies have been implemented that reach from the complete preservation of single, iconic buildings (e.g. the central club building), to the mainte-nance and seamless integration of unique, sometimes strange relics (chimneys and water tow-ers, rails and fences, load-bear-ing structures and machines) und their re-use as artefacts. Also the recycling re-use of found construction materials – mainly bricks – for the pavement of pe-destrian paths, for walls and for re-traced and hence memorized foundations and walls of former buildings has been realized. So-called ‘Time Gardens’ are the places to integrate those ele-ments into courtyards, plazas and playgrounds, all lined up along a winding ‘timeline’ - as counter-part of the strictly rectangular street grid still inspired by Soviet urban planning theories.

Much attention has been paid on the design of new buildings with-in ‘Changchun 1948’ Commercial Zone which all speak an architec-tural language that reminds of the existing buildings which could not be kept entirely.

One distinctive feature of the area however could be kept al-most completely and integrated into the landscape planning: Ap-parently endless, tree-lined av-enues with more than 60 years old giant trees that are still cross-ing the site in the old rectangular grid are now belonging solely to the pedestrians – as wide, green boulevards.






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Residential lobby

Residential towers - north facadesResidential landcsape.

Residential lobby

Club Plaza

Building design All apartments are accommo-dated in up to 100 meters tall high-rise buildings. Diverse gra-dations between 11 and 33 lev-els are creating a vivid skyline. In principle the bigger apartments (160/200m² GFA) are accommo-dated in the lower buildings, the smaller ones (130/150m² GFA) in the taller buildings.The unified colour scheme re-fers to the former industrial use: brick-red and steel-grey. By a rhythmic change of balcony posi-tions the south facades create a rather jovial, vivid appearance.

The residential lobbies let the residents feel the intended repre-sentative, at the same time warm and welcoming atmosphere. The lobby spaces play with generous room heights, with large glaz-ing providing a bright and airy ambience, and with alternating materials in similar colour tones, changing between travertine-clad and timber-clad surfaces.






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Club Plaza

Club Plaza

Landscape concept

The project consists of a rich layering of natural and cultural landscapes whose stories can be read in the preserved big trees, in some of the characteristic, more than 60 years old brick buildings, as well as in the attractive new open spaces. Each element marks a new tick on an eventful ‘timeline’ winding its way through the history of the landscape and into the future, giving it an interesting ‘aesthetic of time’ unlike anywhere else.The story of transformation starts in a distant past, when this place was a natural plain of grasslands and rivers. A rolling landscape with trees and plants creates a picturesque beauty eroded and sculpted by water and wind and becomes a green park axis for the residents.






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Residential pathway Residential landscape

Time Garden

Re-used industrial relics in front of club building

A second, rich ‘factory layer’ is brought by the relics of the die-sel engine factory found in situ, fascinating artefacts to be trans-formed into artistic sculptures or pulsating buildings and urban spaces. In the private – merely residen-tial – community area, footprints of the old buildings are preserved and reborn as focal points of community activity, in the form of courtyards, playgrounds and gardens. All of these relics are an integral part of a third layer, an exciting urban fabric of mixed-use devel-opment and open space. Com-munity plazas, such as the cen-tral Club Plaza, which are joined by a main urban axis as well as a generous offering of pathways, will create an ideal outdoor living environment. The very heart or engine of this new ‘urban facto-ry’ is the public commercial cen-tre – ‘Changchun 1948’ - reborn with civic amenities like plazas, cafés, restaurants and clubs, in which old and new are dynami-cally combined to create a vivid contemporary urban atmosphere.






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Ornamentally curved east-western landcsape axis

Commercial Plaza at night

Commercial Plaza

Time Garden

These three inter-connected lay-ers together will establish ‘Chang-chun Hills’ as a new and exem-plary centre of vibrant urban life.

Moving through the landscape of the estate along a connecting ‘timeline’ carved into the continu-ous green park axis, several ‘Gar-dens of Time’ will offer a variety of experiences that make time spent outside here memorable and unique.

Each garden is inspired by the differentwaystimecaninfluenceus, whether it is with activity or relaxation,reflectingonthepastand tradition, or by discovering new and exciting experiences.






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Location within China

Bird’s eye view of the Smart City facing the Yangtze River

location:

client:

project number:

project type:

design:

scope of services:

site area:

core areas:

GFA:

FAR:

directors:

Project managers:

design team:

Wuhan, China

Wuhan ETDZ Planning Dpt.,

represented by Pan-China

Construction Group Co. Ltd.

3028

Direct commission

2013.4-12

District: conceptual urban

planning

Core areas: Detailed urban

planning and construction

guidelines

84,7 km² incl. landscape areas

21.4 km² construction land

4.78 km² Smart city core

31.2 ha Eco city core

9 million m² (Smart city)

5,85 million m² (Eco city)

1.06 (Smart city)

0.75 (Eco city)

Li Ran, Dr. Elisa Palazzo, Bertil

Donker, Remo Malnar

Daniele Baratelli

Roberto Schumacher

Jing Yu, Yao Wang, Alberto

Sánchez, Yan Xiong, André

Westendorf, Yi Ru, Ignacio

Alonso, Wenchao Yang

Both Smart City and Eco City are located within Wuhan’s Economic & Technological Development Zone (ETDZ) which is encompassing an area of more than 200 km² in the south-west of Wuhan Municipality. Wuhan ETDZ has been initiated and developed since the early 1990s. With an industrial output of 25 billion Euro in 2012 (roughly equaling that of whole Hungary), its economic strength ranks the first among all development zones in mid-west China. With its future developments, the new towns of Smart City and Eco City, it will host an attractive area for creating riverside city space, as well as the foothold of construction demonstration for the booming Smart City movement.

The attractive planning site with plenty of water resources spans be-tween Yangtze River and Tongshun River. The Eco City is measuring 58.7 km², while the Smart City facing the west bank of Yangtze River is 26 km². The areas are characterized by a rich agricultural landscape formed by water ponds and an extensive network of canals and drain-ages.

Amidst a varied range of water bodies, the Smart City accompanies the Yangtze River bank, whereas the Eco City is located between the inner Dongjing River and Phoenix Road, a major city road leading to down-

town Wuhan. About ¾ of the overall planning area (84.7 km²) is made of abundant natural landscapes surrounding the two cities, composed of mountains, rivers, flood lands and artificial water ponds.

According to RhineScheme’s urban planning concept, both new towns are divided into themed districts with corresponding land uses. Within a coherent overall design, each of the districts receives its own architec-tural identity and individual urban structure based on its land use and

Wuhan Smart City & Eco CityWuhan / China






Bird’s eye view of the Smart City from north west

Masterplan of the Smart City (east of Dongjing river) and Eco City (west)

Bird’s eye view of the ETDZ district from south

theme. This is achieved through carefully knitting together the urban structure with the existing landscape and infrastructure, and by selecting appropriate architec-tural typologies and styles.

Smart City: Features

A new city district is going to be created in which advanced fa-cilities and modern technologies provide energy-efficiency, envi-ronmental sustainability and – last not least - highest liveability.

The site-related official planning document “Smart City - Analysis of Development Ideas” has been setting up important basic guide-lines to be followed, namely:

- Low-density, low F.A.R.

- Taking advantage of natural landscape resources to highlight the regional culture features of the area.

- To realize the characteristics of “smart city” initially, connect-ing public city resources (water, power, oil, gas, mobility and pub-lic services) and to monitor, ana-lyze and integrate various data in order to create intelligent living standards.

In general, the concept of ‘SMART City’ has been introduced as a strategic device to highlight the growing importance of social and environmental capital within a framework of Information and Communication Technologies, in profiling the competitiveness of cities. In particular, a city can be defined ‘SMART’ when invest-ments in human and social capi-tal, traditional transport and mod-ern communication infrastructure fuel sustainable economic devel-opment and a high quality of life, with a wise management of natu-ral resources.






The Smart City facing the Yangtze River. In the background, the Eco City

The philosophy of RhineScheme’s proposal is based on the existing landscape as a foundation princi-ple. Eight objectives have been identified and defined as follows:

1. Create new spatial experiences and new fruitions founded on the idea of natural landscape and ur-ban landscape.

2. Facilitate the communication between people and nature.

3. Set up a new model of eco-nomic district that relies on knowledge, tourism and educa-tion besides business.

4. Propose a new traffic model that combines fast mobility with slow mobility.

5. Define a new multifunctional ‘micro-centre’ that enables a life-style combining culture and edu-cation, living, working, leisure and sports at the same time.

6. Create an urban space at hu-man scale, rich of accessible spaces and urban landmarks.

7. Enhance the residents’/users’ feeling of identity and belonging to their place.

8. Propose a new urban model for sustainable energy production and consumption.

The predefined road network is connecting the North-Western

wetlands and the Eco City to the Yangtze River in the South-East, crossing the Smart City. An es-sential and necessary considera-tion has been to create a new Green Corridor following the roads infrastructure and connect-ing the wetland system with the Yangtze River basin.

This Green Corridor is at the same time an environmental con-nection, sustaining biodiversity and ecological flows, and an in-frastructural channel that reor-

ganizes the main public systems: water drainage, public transpor-tation, auto mobility, etc.

Smart City is divided into 8 dis-tricts interconnected by a net-work of regional highways and major roads. These districts re-spond to the major connections with a protective wall of higher buildings both shielding the in-ner areas and creating an urban atmosphere along the roads. To-wards the extensive water land-

scape and the Yangtze River front, the urban structure be-comes dispersed and natural. The height of the buildings is reduced to minimize the visual impact on the landscape and to create a suburban appearance.

From a functional aspect, the Smart City consists of adminis-trative areas, a commercial core, some R&D areas housing innova-tive industries which are synony-mous for the district, as well as some high-level housing areas.






The Eco City Core

Bird’s eye view of the Eco City from north

Low-rise residential areas will provide close relation to nature

Eco City

The Eco City consists mainly of residential areas with close con-nection to natural green areas.

It is settled between an industrial district in the north and the wind-ing waterscape of Dongjing River. Most of the public and commer-cial facilities are oriented towards Phoenix Road in order to provide a strong spine and main artery. Towards the river the building heights decrease, and the urban structure becomes less dense and plays with the existing bounda-ries of water and land.

Strategically placed at the heart of the urban tissue, the Eco city core defines a town center and will provide services for the sur-rounding residential areas. It will include the administrative head-quarters of the Eco city and vari-ous public use functions such as cultural, hospitality and commer-cial facilities.






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武汉经济技术开发区生态城智慧城专题研究及城市设计Research and Urban Design on Smart city Ecological city in Wuhan Economic and Technological Development Zone

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The layers of the Smart City:Landscape, Mobility and Built Environment.Masterplan of Smart City core

The Green Corridor connects the internal wetlands with the Yangtze waterfrontr

Smart City: Core Area

The design for the Smart City’s core area aims for an urban scale which is restrained in size and density; water and irrigation ca-nals as structuring elements have been kept and re-used as land-scape features for retail, working or living areas.

The district planning was deep-ened for an area of 4.78 km² stra-tegically located to take maximum

advantage of the most attractive features of the territory: On one hand it is surrounding an existing lake, offering a quiet and relaxed atmosphere, ideal for reconcilia-tion with nature and for a realm of slowing-down. On the other hand it stretches towards the Yangtze River, showing a denser and taller built environment able to serve as business card of the whole devel-opment. These apparently oppos-ing functions are bound together by a Green Corridor running west

to east, the ecological backbone of the Smart City and its main landscape feature.

Key method and strategy was to re-use the existing land structure to a maximum, which follows a complex geometry of canals and water ponds, in order to minimize disruptions and to make the plan-ning efficient in terms of time, subdivision of land, and construc-tion costs. Main roads are there-fore located on top of current






The Smart City Core quarters are: The Water Park / Smart Living / Public Service Area / Shopping Water Town & SOHO / Living & Working Water Town / The Green Corridor / The Yangtze Waterfront / Urban Mansions along the Canal / Residential SOHO

Water will be one of the most distictive features of the Smart City

banks dividing water ponds; ex-isting canals are kept, improved and becoming elements of the landscape design; lower land are-as of existing water ponds will be-come sunken courtyards or park-ing garages or other underground facilities, by that saving excava-tion costs.

Moreover, the existing water system becomes the distinctive structure of the overall develop-ment, with intended reference

and similarity to ancient Chi-nese water towns. Existing water ponds are re-used and revived in order to create a unique and con-temporary waterscape, dedicated to people and leisure.

A Water Park is created around an existing lake, with a new and unique water experience, taking advantage of the existing water ponds, water streams and the prevailing topography. A new ur-ban experience will emerge based

on the found structure of ponds and canals, with urban surround-ings facing the new water axis and benefitting from unique and inspiring landscape resources.

Finally, a rich network of pedestri-an connections and public trans-portation is designed around and across the whole area to facilitate an alternative mobility to replace or reduce private car traffic.






The start-up area. From left: Enterprise Service Center, the Exibithiion Center, the commercial waterfront. In the background: the living areas.

The Changjiang Park: start-up projects (front) and the Cultural Park (back)

Smart City Core: Quarters

Different functional quarters have been shaped with unique charac-ter and distinct identity.

The start-up area measuring 1.65 km² and located around Chan-jiang Lake will host the planning headquarters from which the city

generates and also the first con-structed area that will attract in-vestors and future citizens. Both official and representative pro-jects are placed here: The ‘Smart City Enterprise Centre’ will pro-vide the necessary logistic sup-port, while the ‘Smart City Exhi-bition Centre’ will host exhibitions and all kinds of information relat-

ed to the planned city. A broader introduction to the envisioned cityscape will be given by samples of high-standard apartments and commercial areas that will be built there.

A cultural area is shaped on the south-west side of the lake, where a set of low-rise buildings,






The Yangtze waterfront and the Landmark Towers at night

Landscape features along Junshan Road and the Landmark Towers

Perspective of the shopping area along the existing canal

all with public functions such as museum and concert hall, will be integrated into the park’s land-scape design.

The very center is shaped by a low-rise shopping area, which will take advantage of existing water and canals to create a human-scale environment with car-free areas dedicated to leisure, res-taurants and meeting places.

Close to the highway crossing the plot in north-south direction, a modern SOHO development will show vibrant, dynamic facades to the cars passing by, benefitting from its good visibility.

On the east side of the plot, the skyline will gradually rise both in height and density. Finally, by the river bank, a group of landscape office towers will create an image of modernity and efficiency, care-fully balancing between the low scale of the smart city and the size required by the wide Yangtze river which they are facing and from which they will be seen.






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masterplan

bird’s eye view

location: Wenzhou Taishun County/

China

client: Zhonghui Joint Invesment

(Beijing) Co., Ltd


project type: direct commission

design: 2012.3-2

planning area: 3.47 km²

GFA: 3.5 mio. m²

FAR: 1.02

start of construction: 2013 (estimated)

scope of services: Urban conceptual planning

and building design

directors: Wolf Loebel, Ran Li,

Johannes Kister

project urban planner: Ignacio Alonso

design team: Lara Rubio, Alberto

Sanchez, Nie Yun,

Jeannine Schoenberg.

landscape design: Atelier Loidl






‘Wenzhou Taishun International Movie Town’, citing the complete and rather long project title, is located in a rural, mountainous and utmost attractive tourist area in Taishun County, south of Wenzhou.

By bus, the planned movie town is about 1.5 hours away from Wenzhou downtown as the nearest city, nearly 3 hours from Fuzhou city and around 5 hours from Hangzhou, Ningbo and Quanzhou.

Taking the newly opened bullet train, the movie town is only one hour away from Wenzhou city centre and one and a half hours from Xiamen.

Beside its attractive landscape, the location is part of the booming ‘Wenzhou & Taizhou Economic Zone’, situated between the well-known Yangtze River Delta Economic Zone in the north, and the Economic Zone on the Western Side of Taiwan Straits in the south.

Major target of the concept, which is partly invested by the China Cen-tral Television Company (CCTV), is the movie industry in a comprehen-sive functional chain, i.e. from the shooting to the public release of a movie, but integrating as well tourism and real estate development.

Nonetheless, the final ‘product’ will be more than an accumulation of backstages for movie shooting, more than a touristic theme park and more than a weekend resort for affluent Wenzhouers.

Eventually, the project will create a real new town in the region, for a more or less permanent popu-lation of at least 40,000 inhabit-ants.

In its spatial layout, the movie in-dustry is intended to closely and effectively connect with the over-all urban structure. The movie in-dustry is at the same time start-ing point and integral part of a bigger whole.

Wenzhou Movie TownWenzhou Taishun County / China

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CBD bird’s eye view

CBD night view

view from central plaza

CBD masterplan






The Central Area of the movie town is the pivot of the entire pro-ject development. It is the dense and busy focus, with starred hotels and service apartments, with commercial and entertain-ment streets and – above all – a themed plaza in its middle with a fascinating amalgam of facilities for public events, surrounded and framed by modern highrises, a 200 meter super highrise and the Cinema palace, all together act as unique and memorable landmark. At the same time, four themed development areas encircling the Central Area will serve as carrier of the development of movie cul-ture and tourism.

Multi-faceted interaction between the different parts of the ensem-ble is intended and encouraged. A diversified and synergetic pat-tern is the goal of development - with a mix of film-shooting, movie tourism, event culture, lei-sure and entertainment as well as high-end wellness and vacation.

The Central Area is designed to provide commercial trading and operation industries of the movie production chain. Functions cover post-production, art exchange, events, press conferences and movie premieres. It will provide public services to be found in every town and supporting facili-ties for a special kind of tourism that derives mainly but not exclu-sively from movie topics.

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european town masterplan

bird’s eye view of european town

bird’s eye view of european town

Venice view






The four themed movie ‘parks’ will be developed from the construc-tion of either typical or unique shooting locations, highlighting the professional characteristics of movie production.

Each and every of the themed de-velopment areas serves as ‘one-stop’ functional area for movie production, including convention-al studios and open areas for in-door and mass-scene shooting.

Meanwhile, it is intended to inte-grate the shooting locations sen-sitively and harmonically with the existing landscape, vegetation and climate, and with old-estab-lished villages and communities.

Coming from the ‘Tourist Service Center’ as obligatory welcome area, visitors will firstly explore the European-style ‘Western Mov-ie Town’ starting with a typical Eu-ropean square and other special features of Western architecture. Along a winding road with small squares which invite for a short rest, visitors arrive at a large wa-ter basin with a long promenade where one can discover Venetian-style buildings. The east side of the basin is lined by Parisian-style facades like those along the Seine River. Further in the east, the new Film University Campus for about 7,000 students will be located, providing an equally at-tractive setting for filming as for education.

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view from Beijing street

republican town

bird’s eye view of MingQing town

Qing dinasty street

view from Shanghai street






The ‘Republican Theme Movie Town’ will create an image of the early days of the Republic of Chi-na during the 1920s and 1930s in historical settings of mainly Old Shanghai and Guangzhou. The area covers Shanghai’s colonial concession area and villas dis-tricts, featured arcade buildings of old Guangzhou, Beijing’s Qian-men area, finally a typical Macao and Singaporean Street. Each set or block combines film-shooting and tourism, with separate en-trances and without disrupting each other.

The ‘Ming/Qing Theme Movie Town’ will focus on the architec-tural and street style of Ming and Qing dynasties, including the rep-lica of a booming business street with shops on both sides, court-yard film-shooting areas, busi-ness areas of local residents as well as a copy of Prince Gong’s Residence, altogether showing people’s social status and the po-etry of Chinese classical gardens.

The ‘Song theme Movie Town’ takes its inspiration from the fa-mous painting of a ‘Riverside Scene of Pure Brightness’, making water become its main subject. The setting includes the well-known rainbow-shaped bridge, shops around lakes in the city, typical Song dynasty courtyards and palaces, a city wall and a gate tower, finally integrating Beijing’s Qiong Island and a fan tower from Kaifeng.

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bird’s eye view of MingQing

bird’s eye view of Song town

Song town

Song town






High-class residential areas are located adjacent to the different movie themed towns, but un-disturbed by the flows of tour-ists and film crews. In style and manner the residences will have a close connection to the relevant movie theme, at least in an ab-stract way.

Strategically, a relationship of 40:30:30 regarding the land area consumption had to be achieved, namely 40% for movie theme towns, film university and movie production, 30% for commercial areas related with both movie in-dustry and tourism, and another 30% for pure residential func-tions including related service fa-cilities.

With respect to the largely un-touched and impressing land-scape, a green ratio of 40% has been strived for, which is achieved in the current planning.

The concentric arrangement of the urban structure is - among others - a direct result of the development strategy: Like the pieces of a cake, every construc-tion stage should comprise a part of the commercial areas in the centre, a part of the encircling movie towns and a part of the rather remote residential com-pounds, so that a profit on invest-ment is granted for every step.

In its whole intention, this pro-ject is aiming at an alternative, elaborate concept for the mush-rooming so-called ‘movie towns’ all over China. It tries to avoid the mistakes of unilateral and unbal-anced developments which either do not integrate the functional chains of movie and/or tourism industry sufficiently, or which end up in greatly artificial environ-ments with cheap and unsteady character.

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strategic locationPlot location and infrastructure

Keeping the old road system and trees Main axis and conections to the city

location: Nankai District, Tianjin

client: China Merchants Real

Estate (Tianjin) Co., Ltd.


project type: Urban Planning

design: 2011.12 - 2012.3

scope of services: Conceptual urban plan-

ning, business concept


GFA: 2.0 million m²

from that ca. 220,000 m²

in kept buildings

1.2 mio.m² residential,

310,000m² commercial,

190,000m²office,

180,000 m² creative ind.

120,000m² culture,

sports,hotel,traffichub,

parking

FAR: 2.1

directors: Ran Li, Wolf Loebel

design team Alberto Sanchez, Jeannine

Schoenberg, Lara Rubio,

Bairu Zhang

How to deal with our industrial heritage? Every country, every region will finditsownanswer.Chinacertainlyneedsaspecialapproach:toofastisthe urban development, too big the pressure from developers and too vo-racious the monetary hunger of the municipalities. This project deals with a big chance for Tianjin.

‘Tiantuo’, name of the production areas of the Tianjin tractor factories with a long history dating back to 1937, is located in western Nankai District of Tianjin, very close to both Inner and Outer Ring Road encompassing the city centre. The site was one of the 4 biggest farm tractor production bases in China – an important chapter in the history of China’s heavy in-dustry development.The location is prominent and promising, since it is in close vicinity to the reputable Nankai University, alma mater of former Premier Zhou Enlai, and to the bustling Anshan West Road, the so-called ‘High-tech Street’ very similar to Beijing’s Zhongguancun. In recent years, the city government decided to shift the tractor-manufac-turing companies (since the turn-of-the-century mainly John Deere Tian-tuo Co., Ltd.) eastwards, because a mere tractor factory district seems no longer suitable for an area which is becoming part of the heart of Tianjin.

The upcoming transformation and redevelopment of Tiantuo district can set a good example for up-grading and renewal of the indus-trial structure of the central city, transforming the mode of eco-nomic growth, and optimizing the layout of industrial space in gen-eral.

Tianjin Tractor ParkTianjin / China






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plot overview

main entrance

Existing situation

existing buildings kept buildings

According to the new positioning of Tiantuo in the overall urban plan of Nankai District, planning structure and urban spatial layout shall lead the development and construction of the district and shall enhance its image and value.Conversion of large-scale urban industrial areas always comprises of: protection, renovation and re-use, development, and new construc-tion.Thelatteristhemostprofitableandhencedominatingfactorthatneeds to be balanced in a smart way.

The planning is founded on and respecting the original road pat-terns and the tall, old trees aligned to them, as well as the characteristic urban structure of the factory itself mainly from the 1950s. It strengthens the role of the 2 main axes found on the plot by converting them into green boule-vards in east-west and north-south direction, both 50 meters wide. These boulevards form the backbone of the development and moreover make the former secluded plot become an integral part of the city.

The original buildings, industrial findings and vegetation on thesite can reflect working and liv-ing, general orientation, sense for functionality and other values of past times, which can also be-come part of the functional needs of nowadays. It is an attractive strategy to integrate and recre-ate them, stripping fragments from the “past” and melting them into new forms, passing down the artistic and sometimes even dra-matic memories of the site to con-temporary society.






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strategic points

axis concept

Uses analysis

The urban structure is stressing two main directions. Apart from giving structure and bringing in green spaces, both boulevards bring users into the heart of the plot.

The main city-connecting node is the north-east corner of the plot due to its proximity to the ‘High-tech Street’ and the planned new traffichubwithbusterminalandsubway station. A square with a new high-rise building emphasiz-es the importance by height and by its nocturnal function as light-house visible from far away. Bus terminal and adjacent retail areas will lead people quasi naturally into the area.

The second node with the city is the former entrance to the facto-ry, where the east-west axis starts and ends. The old factory gates and logos are kept, leading to an amazing boulevard with creatively refurbished old factory buildings on both sides that accommodate new commercial uses.

The whole site is divided into blocks with different uses and qualities. Towards the main streets in east and west a rath-er urban, high-rise appearance is kept, including office and hotel uses on the city side.

Most of the maintained fac-tory buildings with commer-cial functions are concentrated around the east entrance fol-lowing the main axis, careful-ly mixed with new residential towers. Parts of the old buildings are to be converted into parking ga-rages. If not the entire build-ing, then at least parts of the old structure is kept and inte-grated as landscape elements.






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masterplan

master plan

commercial area

landmarks

public transport

culture commercial area view combined commercial & residential

pedestrian/green areas/open spaces

The north-eastern area close to thetraffichubiscreatingavividvariety of squares, plazas, court-yards and gardens – different in scale, grade of openness, sur-face materials and functions, and forming a little world of its own. Old elements are blended with new volumes to create a mesh of pocket parks. Old factory build-ings and new buildings of similar character are interconnected by bridges creating a second pe-destrian level with retail areas. Above these, solid, 4-level po-diumvolumes,officetowersriseup in a modern glass-and-steel language.

The whole south-western area, close to the future Forest Park on the other side of the Outer Ring Road, has pure residential functions and enjoys privacy and calmness.The Central Green Plaza is heart and soul of the site. Located in the intersection of the two boulevards, a vast green open space is created, equipped with a subway station, surrounded by cultural facilities and galleries, lofts and space for creative enterprises, all accommodated in existing old factory buildings.






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birds-eye view

mixed residential & commercial

Rsidential mixed with commercial/kept structures

kept buildings

residential

The urban proposal emphasizes a creative renewal of this place with its rich history in order to form new spaces for new aspirations, for creative people of all kinds, for a mixture of work, leisure and com-merce, for high-quality residences and attractive green spaces for the common joy of residents, users and citizens.






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51

Concept diagram

Bird’s eye view

location: Jinnan,Tianjin / China

client: Tianjin Songjiang Eco

Industry Co., Ltd.


project type: International Competition

design: 2013.4-5

scope of services: Urban planning and

landscape design

site area: 83.6 ha

GFA: 870,000 m²

656,000m² residential,

214,000m² commercial

FAR: 1.05

director: Li Ran

design director: Bertil Donker

project architect: Ignacio Alonso

design team: Zhang Xin,

Alberto Sanchez,

Roberto Schumacher

The site is located in the outskirts of Tianjin, in Jinnan District south-west of the city centre, quite near to the Bohai Sea. It is in a suburban, rather rural surrounding, but in close vicinity to a dense network of highways and expressways. Design brief was to create an attractive, lively city community, using the quality of the environment to attract visitors, business and residents. This aim is realized by the combined means of urban planning, landscaping, and architecture and by de-veloping a consistent branding strategy. This strategy will provide an identity to the development as a whole and thus will be the core mar-keting concept for this residential development.An existing commercial area is centered on outdoor activities such as horseback riding, a green-house tropical garden, harvesting your own food, as well as an event space. RhineScheme proposes to combine these and add other activities around the theme of “Living healthy in harmony with nature”.

This gives a branding direction to the commercial centre. It also provides the residential areas with an identity and theme to which buildings and landscap-ing are to be designed. This has been done by careful selection of façade materials and garden de-sign, but also on a technological/ecological level.The commercial centre will at-tract visitors from all over Tian-jin, but is still functioning as the

local heart of the development. Residents will benefit from the facilities and are attracted to the underlying ecological idea. These considerations are also reflected in the design. Rather than design-ing each plot as a separate island, the aim has been to tie all togeth-er with two parkland axes, which function as the internal pedes-trian routes. Their crossing point is the middle of the commercial centre and by that is leading all visitors there.

Jinnan Eco-StateTianjin / China






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Masterplan

Bird’s eye view of green axis

Neighbourhoods spring off the axes like leaves on a branch, each with their own identity but all part of the same family. Each plot can be accessed from the axes, whether it is a residential neighbourhood, the school or the commercial heart.The neighbourhoods are connect-ed to the axes through a commu-nal garden or ‘green heart’. The east-west running axis has the character of an ‘urban’ axis. Soft landscape is combined with hard quays and steps leading to the water depending on the functions on either side.The north-south axis forms a wetland park. It is wide and works as storm water storage and high quality outdoor space.






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Perspective from green axis

Main square perspective

Perspective of Horse-riding Club

This axis can also be described as the ‘event axis’, with activi-ties such as Wetland Exhibition, Water Experience Park, Wedding Square, fishing pond and event space all aligned. Both axes and all green hearts are themed around water. Water improves the living quality of the surround-ings and provides a dynamic landscape experience in times of higher and lower water levels. In time of flooding an overflow area is provided which keeps the low levels safe.The architecture is modern but unobtrusive. Materials with tex-ture and natural colours close to nature: stone and brick in earthy colour tones. Each neighbour-hood is recognizable through its distinct colour scheme. The com-mercial area, although compiled of different plots, uses the same style and colours in order to give coherence.It is part of the overall design concept to implement the theme “Living healthy in harmony with nature” on all levels: From the organic food sold at the farmers market to the building materials and technologies used.






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Bird’s eye view

location: Qingdao / China

client: Dalian Wanda Commercial

Properties Co., Ltd.


project type: Invited Competition

design: 2013.8

scope of services: Conceptual Urban plan-

ning & Building Design

site area: 46.2 ha

GFA: 583,000 m²

( 320,000m² hotels,

100,000m² residential,

88,000m² conference area

55,000m² marina,

20,000m² bar street )

FAR: 1.25

director: Ran Li


project architect: Pengyong Li

design team: Yan Xiong, Mario Grgic

Rhinescheme was invited to work on a design competition for a section of ‘Qingdao Oriental Movie City’, an ambitious, 5 billion USD mega-project to make Qingdao the Hollywood-like centre of China’s film in-dustry, which is expected to be the world’s biggest by 2018.

The developer is planning to build several tourism cities across China, all located in attractive areas and not only featuring hotels and themed attractions, but also residential and commercial buildings. Among these, the one in Qingdao is unique in size and in the fact that it will be partly built on an artificial island and located opposite the planned film and movie base.

The brief of the masterplan was to locate a variety of hotels, from 3-star to 6-star, a conference centre, a bar street and a marina. In a fast track project, the decision was to locate the hotels like a string of pearls in-between the conference centre and marina clubhouse. Em-phasis has been placed on this route through architecture and land-scaping. A tempting tourism walking route is created, linking the con-ference centre with the bar street, hotels and marina. Eventually the walkway is looping all the way back to the conference centre along a romantic boardwalk with views over the Yellow Sea.

Qingdao Hotel & Entertainment ComplexQingdao / China






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Masterplan

Marina view

The centre of the hotel area is the ‘living room’ of the plan: An area with cafés and small restau-rants surrounding a water pond where after sunset an hourly wa-ter fountain & light show is taking place. This living room will be an attractive area to stroll around in the evening along the grand fa-cades of the hotels, all beautifully lit, or to sit on one of the many benches chatting the night away. One side of the living room is a boulevard, and it extends across the island in a gently curved arch going from north to east. Facing north it forms a balcony overlook-ing the sea; towards the east it turns into the pier protecting the marina from the waves.

This pier is fashioned upon the piers one can find along the North Sea and Baltic Sea, full with en-tertainment, snacks and of course beautiful views over the water. A high bridge marks a small sight-seeing-ferry harbour. People dar-ing enough to climb the bridge will have full view of the marina and all the ships, sailing boats and yachts coming and going.

As the site is an artificial island, no natural beach can be created. In the absence of any kind of beach a meandering boardwalk along the edge of the island has been designed. The boardwalk plays with the artificial, hard edge of the dam, sometimes curving inside and sometimes going out as a balcony over the water.

The 3-star hotels are placed in the centre of the development, whereas the 4 to 6-star hotels are placed along the fringe, offering them the best views. Although all hotels will be developed jointly, each hotel does have its own op-erator, style and layout.

On the inside of the dam water ponds, swimming pools with arti-ficial beach can be created.The marina clubhouse is designed as a free form, perhaps shaped by the wind and waves, or remi-niscent of the hulls of boats. As a fitting end of the string of pearls, a landmark tower - as part of the clubhouse - is placed like a light-house overlooking the marina and the open sea.

The buildings have been inspired by the seaside, the waves and the wind to design their facades. Although differences exist, all hotels are from the same pallet, which unifies the urban plan and overall atmosphere. Even without natural beach, it is possible to give the luxury hotels a natural landscape and water.






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59

Masterplan

location: Zhuhai / China

client: Jindi Real Estate

Investment Co., Ltd.


project type: Feasibility study

design: 2013.6

scope of services: Conceptual Urban

Planning

site area: 14.4 ha

GFA: 495,000 m²

(253,000m² residential,

242,000m² commercial &

public uses)

FAR: 3.35

director: Li Ran


project architect: Alberto Sánchez

design team: Roberto Schumacher,

Ignacio Alonso, Daniele

Baratelli

Hengqin Island is a currently booming Special Economic Zone within the one-million-city of Zhuhai, directly connected with Macao by the short cross-border Lotus Bridge. The whole island is dedicated to be-come an expansion area of Macao which is quickly running out of land.

Rhinescheme was commissioned to do a feasibility study for a mixed-use project within this new development area. The site is located in the west of Hengqin Island, just opposite of Macao and separated from the latter by 300 meters of seaway.

The brief of the half million square meter project included about 50% residential buildings on two plots, as well as roughly 50% of commer-cial property on three other plots. One of the plots has been allocated to SOHO type property, a second plot to regular office areas with com-mercial podiums, and a third one to a seaside shopping and entertain-ment complex.

Hengqin Mixed-use ComplexZhuhai / China






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Bird eye view

Concept diagram

Lofty Mountain by Shen Zhou.

The land-use plan set the overall plot layout and also predetermined underground pedestrian passages from plot to plot. As one of the planning requirements these passages had to be linked to commercial spaces in the first and second underground level and as such provide an interesting mix of public and private space.

On an abstract level, the planning concept makes reference to the ancient Chinese tradition of ShanShui painting. This style - first aris-ing in the Liu Song Dynasty - is characterized by paintings of natural landscapes, real and imagined. They usually depict soaring mountains with waterfalls surrounded by clouds, with a colour scheme based on the Chinese elemental table, in which each element is associated with a certain colour. This painting style later started to influence landscape design and ur-ban planning theory. With Chinese cities becoming ever larger, Chi-nese urban planners have been advocating the ShanShuiCheng (or ‘mountain-water-city’) with its concept of bringing nature and human scale into our cities in order to achieve harmony between nature, city and human beings.

The design seeks to apply this concept in two different ways: Firstly by adopting it to the large scale and to the skyline of the de-velopment. The surrounding sea is low and the inland mountains are high, hence the city skyline mediates the space in between. Secondly, by taking the natural elements like mountains, rocks and sediment layers and designing the urban landscape around these nat-ural shapes and atmosphere on an architectural level.

people

nature

mountainwater city






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Perspective of residential ‘canyon’

Seaside elevation

Bird eye view of commercial ‘canyon’

The underground passages, as

required by the Planning Bureau,

would be quite dark and narrow.

The quality of these spaces is en-

hanced by opening them up and

exposing them to the sunlight.

The result is a multi-level channel

meandering through the plots,

sometimes narrow, sometimes

widening up into a square, like

a canyon cut by water out of the

soil.

This creates pleasant spaces with

natural light and landscape.

The tall buildings tower above

the scenery like the ZhangJiaJie

mountains, covered with plants

and hanging gardens.

The canyon and commercial

spaces are designed to the hu-

man scale, whereas the tall build-

ings communicate to Macao and

the city as a whole.






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63

masterplannight view

urban concept

underground plaza

RhineScheme decided to take

advantage of the particular plot

features by positioning a large

public square at the street corner.

Here an open - and relatively pro-

tected - sunken plaza bopunded

by a simple landscape design

is planned to create a place for

meeting and relaxation, giving a

distinct name card to the com-

pany that is financing the project

and to its cultural matrix.

location: Beijing / China

client: Intellectual Property

Publishing House (IPPH)


project type: International Architectural

Competition 1st Prize

design: 2012.03-04

scope of services: Conceptual building design

planning area: 4,900 m²

GFA: 32,000 m²

(17,000 m² aboveground)

FAR: 3.5

directors: Li Ran, Wolf Loebel

project architect: Daniele M. Baratelli

design assistant: Wan Huang

IPPH (Intellectual Property Publishing House) is an important Chinese state-owned institution that deals with publishing of patent literature in books, magazines, and others media. Overall design goal was to en-dow the Client with a mature and representative building which com-bines the functional organization of an up-to-date office building with a narrative architecture and a consistent urban concept.

The plot is located in the north-western part of Beijing and is defined by streets on two sides: a still-to-be-built main road in its north con-necting the Second Ring Road (encompassing the ancient city centre) with the National Library area, and a smaller street in the west leading to the north gate of the Beijing Zoo. By concentrating the building in the east side, the basic rectangular shape receives wider east-west fa-cades which are favourable to an office building – even in China where south orientation is almost a must.

Intellectual Property Publishing HouseBeijing / China






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IPPH floors 14-15

east elevation on public plaza North elevation from main road west elevation

The first three floors and the first underground floor of the 60-me-ters-tower are for retail and ca-tering, while the remaining twelve levels provide office space. As an answer to the quite particular company culture, the main semi-public functions such as bar-res-taurant, exhibition area and con-ference hall are placed in the top floor. Other areas for meeting and communication are appropriately located close to several overlook-ing terraces.

The company’s identity is re-flected in the skin of the building which makes a clear distinction between (semi-)public areas and the places for work. Since IPPH mainly deals with publishing, the office facades create the vivid im-age of a book shelf, with bigger and smaller, thinner and wider volumes.

The project centers on the con-cept of cultural exchange, and on a well-going interrelation between different functions and users and between public, semi-public and private spheres.

view from the main street detail of facade






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Physical modelGreen terraces conceptMaximun volume allowed by solar shading

View from Haican bridge

location: Xiamen / China

client: Xiamen Sharing Huarong

Import/Export Trade Co.Ltd.


project type: International

Architectural Competition

Winning Scheme.

Design commission.

status: Start of construction 2014

design: 2012.7 - 2014

scope of services: Building design, incl.

construction drawings,

landscape design.

planning area: 0.7 ha (7,100m²)

GFA: 66,800m²

(47,600 m above ground)

FAR: 6.4

directors: Ran Li, Wolf Loebel, Rudolf

Henseli


design team: Jing Yu, Pengyong Li, Bertil

Donker, Alberto Sánchez,

Lara Rubio, Daniele Baratelli

design partner: China Academy of Building

Research

Xiamen, island and coastal city with about 4 million inhabitants just opposite of Taiwan, is one of the prospering Special Economic Zones of China and home to a huge community of overseas Chinese. The new 100 meters tall office high-rise will create an enduring land-mark that fits its exposed and exclusive location with unobstructed views to the sea and to the future redevelopment areas around the container harbour. By replacing the existing ‘China Minmetals Build-ing’, it will become the very first reconstruction project in Xiamen.The shape of the building is a direct result of the maximum volume allowed by solar shading analysis and by the fire-fighting restrictions of the plot.In particular the new building should not worsen the existing sunlight conditions in the surrounding residential buildings, not even in one single room. The tower is made up of 3 different volumes separated by landscaped terraces that provide excellent amenities for users and offer panoramic views. Within the floor-plan organization, these terrace areas are host-ing special functions, either for collective purposes, or – conversely – for exclusive ‘VIP’ uses.

WuKuang Office TowerXiamen / China






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Section

Bird’s eye view

The volumes are enclosed by a thin glass façade. Vertical steel frames protruding from the glass skin are creating a dynamic, up-wards-striving pattern and have an additional sun-shading effect.Xiamen has subtropical climate with an average annual tem-perature of 21°C; efficient sun-protection is hence a must and a challenge at the same time, since both main facades are facing deep sun-positions, and frequent typhoons do not allow using exte-rior sun-shading elements.Several incisions will open the building to the outside, providing the offices with green gardens, balconies and terraces, which of-fer a more delicate and welcom-ing appearance in opposition to the regular skin. The tower’s podium opens up and becomes permeable as it reaches the ground: A big opening signal-izes semi-public uses wrapped around a spacious, airy, sun-lit lobby that encloses 3 levels and leads to exhibition and confer-ence areas, cafés and snack bar, as well as some commercial uses.

View from main street






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Night view

Bird’s eye view

Physical model

Ground floor Floor 10 Floor 16

The middle volume containing renting offices is the most regular one. It anticipates the changing needs in workplace with large, open spaces that allow flexible use.

The top volume appears to float above the rest; it houses head-quarter functions and large open air gardens that cascade over the top levels of the tower with amazing views of Xiamen.

These ‘hanging gardens’ are cov-ered by steel frames that act as a pergola for sun protection, at the same time defining a clear shape of the tower for its urban image.

The building is designed to have minimal impact on the environ-ment. It incorporates sustainable strategies through passive and active energy-saving measures.






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Design for a BMW Showroom Theatre, RhineScheme 2011.11

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Shenyang Shengbao 5S

Hefei Baozhijia 4S

location: all over China

client: BMW Brilliance

Automobile Ltd.

project numbers: 5029-001 to 5029-062

project type: direct commissions

design: 2012.5 – 2013.12

scope of services: Schematic design,

coordination with

and construction drawing

check of local architects

and interior designers

building types: mainly 4S/5S shops

(Sales-Service-Systems-

Spare Parts, added by a

Sustainability component

in case of 5S), SC (Service

Centers), Showrooms,

FLC/FLR (Fast Lane repair

shops in city or rural ar

eas), extension/

refurbishment/renovation

projects

GFA: mainly between 5,000-

12,000m² (4S/SC) and

12,000-30,000m² (5S)

director: Ran Li


team manager: Xin Zhang

design team: Bairu Zhang, Mingyang

Shi, Yao Wang, Pengyong

Li, Han Qiu, Alberto

Sánchez, Yuzhen Chen,

Daniele Baratelli,

Yan Xiong.

Not only is China the world’s biggest market for new cars, it is also one that is developing at an unprecedented pace, since the unsatis-fied demand all over the huge country is still tremendous, and it will stay for years to go. German luxury car-makers are benefiting from this development to an even higher degree than the average, and BMW is among the car brands on top of the sales increase. The demand of car dealers wishing to start new dealerships – mainly in the form of 4S/5S shops beside a smaller amount of other for-mats – is currently more than 100 per year all over China. The an-nual number of refurbishments and extensions of existing facilities is even higher.

To support the fast-growing nationwide business by archi-tectural design, RhineScheme Beijing office has become plan-ning partner of ‘BMW Brilliance Building Design Consultancy Team for Dealer Development’, located in Beijing, since Febru-ary 2012.Schematic Building Design on various project types started in May 2012 and includes checking of construction documents and interior design documents by lo-cal design institutes as well as – lately – the support in updat-ing, adapting and consolidating BMW-specified ‘building guide-lines’.

BMW show, sales & service centres China

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Shenyang Shendebao 4S upgrade

Hulun Buir 4S

Heze Qianbao 4S

Beijing Baoxin 4S

More than 60 projects have been started so far within the first one and a half years; some of them are already in operation. Corporate Culture requires that every building in which one can experience, buy or repair BMW cars is easy recognizable as a building from the same compa-ny. The exterior appearance fol-lows classical modern principles, with white or grey façade pan-els, white plaster for secondary parts, with large-scale glazing for the public areas hold by dark window frames, with sun-shad-ing elements and with emphasis on horizontal lines in general.

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Tianjin Longbaohang_5Swork bay

Tianjin Longbaohang 5S_driving gallery/show room

Hulun Buir 4S_driving gallery/show room

Light colours are also domi-nating the interior spaces, al-though more private and inti-mate areas can very well be kept in rather dark elegance.

Preferred materials are tiles in several grey tones, part-ly also in sand colour, and wooden flooring or other tim-ber elements in natural col-ours.

Lighting channels and parti-tion walls, open staircases and communication images all follow BMW’s CI.

The street-like arrangement of the exhibited cars, the lay-out of sales areas and work-bases, integrated lounges and special new car delivery areas follow common princi-ples as well. As a whole, they create strongly brand-oriented spaces with a modern, airy and bright appearance.

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Interior design

Tianjin Longbaohang 5S: Crossboundary Architects Beijing Greenspace Construction & Design Co.LTD

Shenyang Shengbao 5S:Shanghai PURESIGHT Architectural Consultants Co.LTD

Tianjin Longbaohang 5S_interior courtyard

Tianjin Longbaohang 5S_life style area

Shenyang Shengbao 5S_VIP area

Following the differing requirements

and demands of the single dealers,

office areas and canteen provide

room for individual design, as do even

more the VIP areas that can be quite

extensive and luxurious in China.

They are usually located in a sepa-

rate upper level and comprise more

freely designed rest and relaxation

areas, including bar, snack and dining

spaces, chill-out and massage-chairs,

movie-watching areas, and lots of

other facilities widely unknown to the

more pragmatic Western buyers.

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Ground floor (exhibition center)Bird’s eye view

second floor (conference center)

Perspective from the lake

location: Beijing / China

client: BDA Administration

Committee


project type: International Competition

design: 2011.10-12

scope of services: Conceptual building and

landscape design


GFA: 27,160 m²

FAR: 0.15

directors: Li Ran, Wolf Loebel


design team Huang Wan, Lara Rubio,

Jeannine Schoenberg

BDA (Beijing Economic & Technological Development Area), is a na-tional top-priority Development Area, and one of the biggest in Chi-na. Fuelled by the tremendous growth in various industry sectors and along with the explosion of private-equity firms seeking investment opportunities, BDA has developed capabilities for other growing sec-tors, like education, renewable energies, and retail. BDA and Yizhuang itself benefit from a superb strategic location. Yizhuang has developed as the hub of communications linking Beijing and Bohai.The Science & Technology Center (STC) is dedicated to be Yizhuang’s window of development and planning: a contemporary building opened to the public, a center of artistic quality that showcases and makes full use of hi-tech methods. It will serve as platform demonstrating hi-tech manufacturing industries and products, as service centre for the local companies, as space for exhibition, meeting and exchange.

Yizhuang STC is located in the middle of the ‘International Enter-prise Cultural Park’, a public park supposed to support a number of activities and events.The building is aimed to be green and sustain-able in order to conform to its purpose and context; its connec-tion with nature is very important.Visitors are expected to enjoy the splendid views and environment; to this intent the exhibition areas are closely connected with their surroundings as part of a quasi osmotic building.

Yizhuang Science & Technology CenterBeijing / China






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Analysis of building elements

The exhibition space is introver-sion and extension of the park at the same time: paths with flowers let the indoor space grow into the surrounding nature.The different functional parts of the park have been connected through a promenade along the lake that changes shape and size adapting to the surroundings, transforming into a bridge in the main axisimproving the access from the park’s main entrance.

Night view

Section

perspective from the exhibition park

The building’s main idea consists in lifting a piece of the park and put-ting an exhibition space underneath. A living blanket of vegetation is created that covers a service space for the public – symbolizing the least possible intervention into nature.The exhibition area has no clear boundaries. 3 different kinds of spaces - uncovered, covered, and indoor spaces – create a variety of possible exhibition arrangements.Yizhuang STC is planned with two objectives: one of social nature, aimed to generate activities, and one of environmental nature, with the goal of bioclimatic adaptation of outdoor and indoor space. The building – in a figurative sense - learns from its context and adapts to it. It represents a modern interpretation-concretization of a forest as complex biotope.






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entrance perspective

perspective of conference center

Green roof

Visitors are attracted to the mysterious floating object when they see it from a distance. Approaching the building, they will enter an open exhibition hall covered above with a semi-transparent wooden skin in a flowing motion, an illusionary, ephemeral structure where functional spaces like conference rooms, offices and other services are hanging from a green roof.This green roof becomes part of the landscape of the ‘Enterprise Park’; it will be partially accessible to visitors who can enjoy views from above while walking through a small path.Sustainability has been a key aspect of the design, in the sense of cre-ating a resource-saving and efficient structure by reducing its overall impact to the environment. The building is designed as one comprehensive system rather than a collection of stand-alone technologies. It lives off its biophysical sur-rounding: the energy and matter found on its own site.

The distribution of functions is simple and flexible: The ground floor is reserved en-tirely for the exhibition space as the heart of STC - in direct con-tact with the surrounding park. It forms a big flexible and mainly open space that can easily adapt to different needs of the center. The second floor accommodates the remaining functions that need more specific and closed spaces. The overall floor space organi-zation allows that the different building functions (conference, offices, education and exhibition) can work independently or jointly.






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perspective of cafeteria in second floor detail and distribution of wooden shutters

forest reference

Interior of main exhibition hall

For the main building structure a system of steel beams and columns will be applied, the roof will be shaped by a three-dimensional steel structure.A glass curtain wall will clad the exhibition space. Also the conference, office and education spaces in the upper level will be built of glass, steel and prefabricated light panels, and then covered by a semi-transparent wooden skin.Three different types of shutters with different densities will be adapted in the façade. The shutters are used for sun protection, but also create a vibrating interior atmosphere that reminds of the plays of light and shadow in a forest.The green roof will be planted with local species that won’t need extra maintenance or water.






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Masterplan

Person view from the South

location: Tianjin Dongli District/China

client: Tianjin ORAC Elevator Co. Ltd


project type: Feasibility studies and

conceptual façade design

design: 2013.04-09

scope of services: Urban planning, Building

design and Façade Design

area: 5.2 ha

GFA: 202,000 m²

FAR: 3.9

directors: Li Ran, Bertil Donker

project architect: Alberto Sanchez

design team: Yang Wenchao, Roberto

Schumacher, Daniele

Baratelli, Mario Grgic

Dongli District is located on the central axis of Tianjin City connecting the central city and the coastal new areas. It is part of the city’s ma-jor economic development belt with industrial and high-tech parks, economic & technological development zones etc. The area is among those with the highest development potentials of Tianjin City.

The task comprises 2 plots for 2 different projects for the same cli-ent, located close to each other, less than 20km from Tianjin city centre, and well connected by light train and highways, only 15 km from the airport, and within walking distance from the landscaped Hai River:

The first one is a greenfield development to build living and work-ing spaces, whereas the second one is to redesign the facades of an existing office building.

The first plot located on a street corner should achieve the highest possible density. The program of offices, com-mercial and SOHO areas is hence accommodated in 10 north-south oriented towers.

Along the street a pedestrian landscaped area is accompa-nying a continuous 3 floors’ commercial podium with 3 of-fice towers; the tallest of these high-rises with 30 floors is marking the street corner and serves as landmark for the de-velopment.

Dongli Industrial ProjectsTianjin / China

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Bird eye night view from the sourth-east

evening view from the landmark cornerday view from the landmark corner

The podium has three landscaped entrances leading to the inner part of the plot, where the 7 SOHO towers are located within a more private and green garden-like area. Straight dashed lines of greenery enhancing a dynamic atmosphere are leading from the public street to the inner private and calm areas.

The different heights of the towers create a vibrating skyline.

All in all, a simple urban organization is seizing the potential of the plot and creates a perfect canvas for multi-functional living and working.

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façade option 1

façade option 2.1 façade option 2.2

The challenge of the second task – the new façade design for an existing office tower - was in creating a vivid façade based on a rather stiff and not very deli-cately built structure.

Two options were adopted: One creating a pattern of opaque, solid areas in 2 colors – green and white - mixed with fields of transparent glass. The underly-ing concept is that of bamboo and green jade, creating a vivid façade in green tones by alter-nating the position of the opaque green and white panels.

The second option is a transpar-ent glass façade with visible floor plates marking the horizontal direc-tion, and sun-protection elements strengthening the vertical direction.

This option still follows the first idea of creating a vivid façade. But here vertical, perforated metal panels mounted in front of the glass façade are creating shadow and movement and also enhance the verticality of the building, making it appear slimmer than it is.

A variant of this approach is using a second layer of vertical, solid stone elements. The effect is similar to that of the metal panels; yet the impression is a more solemn and grave one.

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Masterplan

French style Italian style Spanish style

location: Beijing Mentougou / China

client: Beijing Top Jiahua

Management Co., Ltd.


project type: Competition winning

scheme with subsequent

design commission

scope of services: Conceptual urban planning

and building design

design: 2012.7+8


FAR: 1.0

directors: Wolf Loebel, Ran Li


design team: Alberto Sánchez,

Lara Rubio, Jing Yu, Yi Ru,

Ignacio Alonso

external consultant: Rudolf Henseli

RhineScheme successfully competed in the invited competition to design 3 prototype winery villas of varying scales set in an overall masterplan. The location can be found West of Beijing in a valley of the Yan mountain range, in an area well known of its lush vegetation and pear orchards. The three wineries would be open to the public who would be able to tour the properties and the surrounding vineyards to get acquainted with wine and wine-making in general. The masterplan envisaged the villas set in a beautiful vineyard landscape planted on ancient terraced mountain slopes: the result of hundreds of years of farming and fruit cultivation in the valley. RhineScheme recognized the need for a varied program beside the core of wine making to attract, but moreover to keep visi-tors in the area. To this end, a number of alternative leisure and tourism activities have been planned such as golf, hiking and a restaurant area.

The villas are in 3 contrasting European styles: French, Tuscan and Span-ish. These will form the basis of a much greater development in the area in which RhineScheme has been approached to take part.

Junzhuang Winery VillasJunZhuang Wine Culture Park, Beijing / China






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The Boutique winery

The largest of the wineries, at approx 4,000m² is designed as a fully equipped wine production facility, complete with wine press, filtration and storage. Besides making wine, part of its functions is to hosts visitors who can enjoy and learn about wine in luxurious surroundings. The entrance is formed by a dou-ble height lobby with a majes-tic staircase. From there a route leads through the winery start-ing with a physical model of the masterplan followed by some en-tertainment in the music room. The guests will be able to access the wine cellars and wine tasting rooms after a tour of the produc-tion facilities. At the end of the day a glass of wine can be en-joyed on the terrace overlooking the vineyards.

Designed in a quasi-French style, the building is a mix between cas-tle and renaissance architecture. Typical elements are the high mansard roofs and the adjoining towers erected in natural stone. The symmetrical façade reflects prestige and history.

The Enterprise winery

A medium size winery measur-ing 1,500m², also is a fully work-ing wine production facility. The winery shares many of the fea-tures the bigger boutique win-ery has, but is aimed mainly at guests from companies and other groups. These will be able to rent the fully catered property and en-joy the area and its facilities in a more private atmosphere.

Designed in a quasi-Tuscan style, the building features typical ar-chitectural details from the mid-dle of Italy such as the battle-ments along the roofline and the belvedere on the roof top. The wine cellar opens up to the pri-vate garden, so that natural light can reach the tasting area and events can spill out into the gar-den.

The Private winery villa

The smallest of the three build-ings is just over 900m². It is too small for having its own produc-tion facilities; however it is aimed at the wine enthusiast who would like to live in beautiful surround-ings and with a possibility to show off an extensive collection of wines. The above ground levels are designed as a luxurious villa, while the cellar has ample space for display, safe storage, tasting and entertainment.

The villa is in a Spanish style which seems more suited to a domestic program. The design has the famous lazy sloping red tiled roofs which contrast beau-tifully with white stucco walls. Architectural features, such as the entrance or window open-ings are accentuated with natural stone. The arches on the ground floor blur the difference between inside and outside and provide shelter against the summer sun and therefore also suite to Beijing climate.

ground floorground floor ground floor






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Alonso, Ignacio Baratelli, Daniele Chen, Yuzhen Deng, Wengui

Huang, Wan Li, Junpeng Li, Pengyong Li, Ran

Malnar, Remo Nie, Yun Palazzo, Elisa Dr. Pelucca, Bruno Dr.

Schumacher, Roberto Shi, Mingyang Sun, Ruimei Wang, Yao

Yang, Wenchao Yu, Jing Yi, Jipeng

Beijing Team 2012/2013 from A - Z

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Donker, Bertil Grgic, Mario Dr. Henseli, Rudolf Huang, Jing

Liu, Chen Loebel, Wolf Lu, Shen Ma, Chen

Qiu, Han Ru, Yi Sánchez, Alberto Schönberg, Jeannine

Westendorf, André Xiong, Yan Xu, Yinghua Yang, Lei

Zhang, Bairu Zhang. Xin

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RhineScheme GmbH

is a worldwide acting architecture and urban planning practice that can fall back on more than 30 years of professional experience in planning and construction management. About 80 designers are working in networking offices in Germany (Cologne, Frankfurt, Leipzig), China (Beijing, Shanghai) and in the U.S.A. (Philadelphia). RhineScheme feels obliged to a holistic design approach from the very beginning of each project. We work in integrated planning teams made up of architects, urban and landscape planners, interior designers as well as members from a wide network of associated experts, engineers and consultants. We are aiming at sustainable solutions, easily adaptable to changing para-meters. Our goal is intelligent low-tech concepts that derive from the local; we are striving for economically feasible innovation and creativity. Tangible practical experience is completed by international teaching and research activities. Since 2004, a focus of our planning efforts is in China, where a local international team together with experts from abroad has created a project portfolio that is quite unique among German design companies. Equipped with an equal German-Chinese management, RhineScheme’s Chinese branch is concentrating on urban planning and architecture projects as well as ecological construction technologies. With about 20 half local, half foreign architects and urban planners, RhineScheme has an experienced working team familiar with both Chinese and Western planning conditions and culture, able to combine international experiences with local know-how.

RHINESCHEME GmbH | Rep. Office China | 3, Andingmen Dong Binhe Lu, 2-401 | Dongcheng District Beijing 100013 | P.R. China 莱茵之华设计集团 |中国北京代表处 | 中国北京东城区 | 安定门东滨河路 3号院 | 雍和家园 2-2-401 | 邮编 100013 phone电话 +86-10-84221360 | fax 传真+86-10-84221382 | email 电子邮箱[email protected]

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Documents

Rhinescheme Yearbook 2012 / 2013