Aviation City
Global studio Woods Bagot has won the international competition to design China Southern Airport City, a 400 hectare mixed-use development set on the Liuxi River, in Guangzhou, China. Amidst fierce competition from some of the world’s most admirable design houses such as Zaha Hadid and Paul Andreu Architects, also designed the international airports of Paris (named after Charles de Gaulle and Orly), Shanghai (Pudong), Manila, Jakarta, Brunei, Abu Dhabi, Dubai and Cairo. The win optimizes Woods Bagot’s one global studio model and continued expertise across both urban design and aviation sectors. Woods Bagot’s proposed masterplan exploits the potential of economic integration of functional elements against the aspiration for a transformational staff and visitor experience. Set amongst natural settings, the plan will create a new international landmark in China for workplace culture. The City design, which totals 3.8 million sq m will provide a gross floor area that equates in scale to just over 7 Barrangaroo’s (Sydney), 1.5 Dockland’s (Melbourne) and 9 City Link’s (Perth) in development area. The master plan will expand the airline’s traditional corporate headquarters to an urban scale, blending business and manufacturing uses with lifestyle and residential components. This new active district will support China Southern Airlines’ brand and continued leadership as Asia’s largest airline. “Transport, travel and communication is at the forefront of a connected city. The rise of these ‘concentrated-cities’, where a variety of commercial, retail, residential and community facilities are present are seeping into the Asia Pacific urban landscape, where the success will hinge on smart urban design and essentially, an efficient use of resources,” said Kirsty White, Senior Associate, Woods Bagot. The China Southern Airport City master plan organizes the neighborhoods into three precincts and deems a somewhat ‘concentrated city’ approach.
Woods Bagot