Located in Dongguan, #33 Art District envisions the urban regeneration of an industrial site of 16.6 hectares into a campus for creative industry – a dynamic hub for innovation, collaboration and production – that could play an important role in Dongguan’s transition from an industrial to a knowledge-based economy. The masterplan on the one hand aims at introducing new programs into the vacant buildings, forming new functional clusters, on the other hand it retrofits public urban spaces and landscape elements into the existing urban fabric. Through a series of interventions at different scales, the design of the campus redefines new ways of living, working and learning that span both indoor and outdoor.

An ecological framework integrates storm water management, phyto-remediation and urban farming on multiple levels, structuring the new public spaces. In a climate with heavy rain precipitations, the flatness of the site could generate risks of urban flooding. The different drainage conditions are studied and evaluated in order to introduce a series of rain gardens and permeable surfaces linked by bio-swales that help slow down surface runoff at extreme storm events, collecting and cleaning rain water for irrigation purposes. Phyto-remediation uses successive phases of planting to cleanse the soil contamination inherited from previous industrial activities (electronic, textile, manufactory industries were active onsite). Before the ground is completely transformed into clean soil, urban farming is introduced on roof gardens that can be adopted by the adjacent communities.

The overall green infrastructure system not only responds to the environmental challenges of the current brown field, but also helps create diverse outdoor spatial experiences that provide a unique identity to the campus. Pedestrian accessibility and leisure activities are enhanced through a series of interconnected elements. A “loop” cuts through the buildings on the ground floor, forming a continuous path activated 24/7, even after all the offices close at night. It links all the daily lifestyle attractors (café, gym, grocery, etc.) for the people that work and live on campus and connects to the adjacent plazas to create a more fluid pedestrian experience.

An elevated path runs across the site diagonally providing a multi-layered network of informal meeting areas such as an amphitheater and various public terraces, which ultimately encourage socialization, cross-disciplinary discussion and collaboration. The sky-bridge activates the 2nd floor of the retail areas and leads to the observation tower and a tree-path in the south-west park. The original main street is transformed from a 4-lane vehicle road into a slow traffic corridor where pedestrian paving, bicycle lanes, bio-swales and car lanes interweave providing a more pedestrian-friendly streetscape. Integrated pockets of outdoor sitting areas work with cafes and restaurants along the main axis.