G107 Bao’an – Design Brief

Our team was invited to redesign highway G107 and its surrounding area in Bao’an, Shenzhen. The other competitors included OMA and 5 global design firms. Bao’an is upgrading its old manufacturing sector to be sustainable and technology oriented, the city of Bao’an also wants to modernize its 30km long 12-lane G107 highway to allow for more efficient transit and new real estate development projects.

We started the G107 challenge by questioning the role of a highway. We propose that traditional highways are outdated and inefficient. Our presentation will demonstrate that multimodal transportation systems that integrate automated technologies like drones, auto-pilot vehicles and high-speed transit are the future of 21st century urban development. We believe there is no need to expand Bao’an’s 12-lane highway. Instead of treating the traditional highway as a fixed piece of infrastructure, we will design a smaller, more fluid, multi-layered, thoroughfare that will be a spectacular starting point of growth for an organic smart city.

Urban Design – Organic Highway 107



The current G107 cuts off the city’s western waterfront development areas from its mountain ranges to the east. One of our design goals is to reconnect these two natural amenities and create an urban landscape that can bring Bao’an back to 1990 when it was a farmland. We also identified the following values to renew G107 as the first ORGANIC HIGHWAY:

Sustainability Connections Technology Sharing Economy Opportunities Green Manufacturing

Design Concept of New G107



We borrowed design principles from nature. We will elevate the 12-lane G107 into two 4-lane enclosures for better pollution control. The new G107 will weave vertically and horizontally throughout its 30km length. It will have sections at grade, above grade and below grade. All three sections will include spaces where the ground surface will be opened up for greenery and public amenities. Above grade Green platforms will weave through buildings on both sides of G107 to provide pedestrian access to new transit hubs. Multimodal transit systems will be employed making travel time from one area to the next within a 15 minute timeframe. An added benefit will be to reduce the city’s dependence on cars. The new G107 will not only bridge the natural and public amenities together, it will also add space for new cultural centers that celebrate art and design. The new G107 will be an organic merging of transportation modals and urban planning in three dimensions.

Sustainable Design and Holistic Approach

Landscape treatment, water management and transportation are tied closely together with the new G107. With the development of a sharing economy, transit hubs with shared vehicles will be deployed along G107 above every intersection. The multi-layered design will not only create a smooth transit experience, but it will also carry smart technology to manage water and air pollution. The new G107 will no longer be a deterrent to development, but a valuable asset for Bao’an. Our smart design will drastically reduce the city’s carbon footprint. The ultimate goal is to make Bao’an a smart city that can be carbon neutral by 2045.

Transportation Resolution:

Urban Resolution and Management:

Business Trend and the Future



We conducted a survey from worldwide business owners (see image and credits at the bottom of this page) and concluded that talented people want to live in a city that is:

Sustainable With good quality of life With job opportunities

Our design intent is not to give up Bao’an as a manufacturing town, but to upgrade its facilities into a “Green Manufacturing City” with the power to share and connect people, places, and amenities. This sustainable city will celebrate the new “sharing economy” with facilities like transparent factories, drone ports for deliveries, open platforms for experiments, mobile offices and natural amenities to share. The new G107 will be a place to LIVE, WORK and PLAY.

The New Pearl River Delta

Shenzhen have won the greenest city award in China, but Bao’an is behind on its pollution management and green ratio. With our design, Bao’an can and will be the greenest of the greenest city in China. With the first drone highway and the first green manufacturing facilities, Bao’an will become a pilot city for the world to emulate and learn from. At the same time we will totally redevelop our old manufacturing town. The new G107 will enhance Shenzhen as the “City of Design”. It will also diversify and redefine the Pearl River Delta and help establish China as a leader of innovation on a global scale.

The First Drone Highway – Flythrough



Credits:

Architecture + Urban Planning + Environment:

Avoid Obvious Architects (USA) + TETRA Architects & Planners (Hong Kong)

Vicky Chan, AO

Melissa Chan, AO

Krystal Lung, AO

Eve Hocheng, AO

Daewook Lee, AO

Aime Vailes-Marcie, AO

Allen Poon, TETRA

Gilbert Yeung, TETRA

Andrew Kinoshita, TETRA

Gary Chan, TETRA

Brian Mok, TETRA

Clive Chan, TETRA

Associate Architects + Traffic Consultant:

BCCI (China)

Landscape + Water Management:

Richard Alomar, Urban Field Studio (USA)

Structural Engineering:

Erik Madsen, Madsen Engineering (USA)

Drone Consultant:

AEE (China)

Lighting Design:

Ching-Yu Lin, CosmoC Design (Taiwan)

Chinese Calligraphy:

Isabella Sim (Hong Kong)

English Narrative:

Andrew Montante (USA)

Collective City Planning by Worldwide Business Owners. See more detail here:

Wijdène Kaabi, KAA Studio (Tunisia/London/Hong Kong) Fran Parente, Fran Parente Photographer (Brazil/New York) Benjamin Cox, The Artist (Belgium/Hong Kong/London) Nelson Ng, Lost Magazine (Singapore/Shanghai/New York) Matthieu Maury, La Station (France/Hong Kong) Gordon Laplante, GCreate (Florida/New York) Daewook Lee, Architect (S. Korea/Hong Kong/New York) Alex Zulas, Zulas Architects (Mexico/USA) Sally Ryder, Ryder Diamonds (Melbourne/Hong Kong) Tesfa Gebreal, Rocket Internet AG. (Ethiopia /New York) William Yueng, Godone Space (Hong Kong/China) Gareth Mahon, RKLA Studio (Ireland/New York) Ching-Yu Lin, CosmoC (Taiwan/New York) Smrita Jain, The Aquario Group (New Delhi/USA) Sujata S. Govada, UDP International (India/Hong Kong/USA) Jason Carlow, Carlow Architecture and Design (Hong Kong/Boston/UAE) Theresa Goosen, Architect (Canada/USA/Hong Kong) Arjun Desai, Desai/Chia Architecture (USA/India) Various Business Owners through HKTDC (Hong Kong)

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