The B+H Shanghai Planning and Landscape studio has an ongoing mandate with AVIC to design prototypical master plans for their aviation cities. Our Shanghai studio drives the design based on the Livable Cities of Tomorrow platform we’ve developed for new and evolving cities across China and Southeast Asia.

The residential component of AVIC’s International Aeroworld Chengdu includes commercial plazas, pedestrian-centred design, integrated and smart office campuses, townhomes, apartments, and low density villas – all strategically clustered to provide diversity and scale through the urban form to support vibrant streetscapes for a cohesive community. The large community design creates a strong sense of place while smart landscapes, buildings, and infrastructure provide a roadmap to a sustainable future. Public-use spaces that offer visitors the chance to explore AVIC’s history and future while making their way through the community include a themed hotel and hospitality zone; creative workshop areas; and lifestyle zones that combine retail, entertainment, and food and beverage options.

 

Deeply rooted in landscape urbanism and the public realm, the master plan of this development immerses residents and visitors in an experience by integrating aviation innovation and programming into the infrastructure. The master plan and landscape design encourages a healthy lifestyle by interweaving urban and naturalized landscapes with public transit and destination programming. It sets up a framework to establish iconic architecture that embodies the spirit of aviation within each of the land-use types and programs though a human-scaled public realm.

The Chengdu site is dominated by its natural topography and waterways, which allow us to capitalize on the abundant water resource that collects and moves through the development. Built forms respond to the natural topography and create a series of terraced wetlands and waterways that filter water and resources back into the community and through open spaces. The central streamline park acts as a common urban green space with entertainment and recreational programming, while connecting existing canal and pond elements. This marriage of existing and new infrastructure is designed to accommodate local storm water and the treatment of locally generated greywater to reduce pollutants and stress on the city’s infrastructure, while providing habitat corridors for wildlife and restoration of the native diversity in the local ecosystem.