Dapeng Public Affairs Center

When Shenzhen is referred to in China, the most common expression is that “long time ago, Shenzhen is just a small harbor by the South China Sea…”
The image as a harbor is the most precious memory of Shenzhen. But it has been long lost in the development of modern city.
Today, Shenzhen has become one of the top three ports in the world. The great city is not just a busy hub, but also a harbor incubating dreams and miracles.
Dapeng District is the oldest root of Shenzhen. At here, we decided to bring back the memory, and recreate the image with poetic imaginations. A new legend will be born between the beautiful mountain and sea.
The site locates next to hills. We decided to preserve the local natural environment as much as possible, and avoid breaking into the hills.
The site boundary, the hill slopes, the buildable area limitations, and the visual corridor requirements cut the site into small, irregular pieces of land. Furthermore, the significant complexities of programs, large amount of total area, and large demands on sports facilities, impose a great challenge on the site strategy.
Inspired by the logic of piers, we treated all the fragments as a whole and thus successfully turned the disadvantage into a distinctive experience: a large, suspended platform almost covers all the buildable area. The two-story platform provides surface for green space and sports facilities, and thus becomes an energetic recreation park for the staff. The podiums below the platform are public serving functions. The space between the podiums and slanted poles form a series of required colonnades for pedestrians. Loosely piled on the platform, towers are broken into smaller blocks, providing spaces for internal use.

LOCATION: Shenzhen, Guangdong Province, China
TYPE: Government, Office, Culture, Sports
AREA: 200,000㎡