Woods Bagot has won the international competition to design China Southern Airport City, in Guangzhou. The design, which totals 3.8 million m2, expands the 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.
The design establishes a sweeping physical form that unifies the Airport City site and presents a legible identity that is visible from arriving and departing planes. Within this landscape, landmark buildings, parks, lakes and other features define a series of programmatic “neighborhoods.”
The master plan is split into three precincts – business, cultural, and entertainment, as well as Southern Airlines University. Other aspects include an executive complex including offices, a five-star hotel and VIP club overlooking an expansive lake. Manufacturing, operations and research facilities form a second precinct to the northwest while residential and lifestyle neighborhoods compose the third precinct along a riverfront.
The landscape architectural and ecological concept – designed in close collaboration with Hargreaves Associates and Sherwood Design Engineers – overlays bold sculptural landforms with a series of contemporary urban, academic and residential landscapes.
The project draws on expertise from Woods Bagot’s London, San Francisco, Hong Kong and Beijing studios and partners with Hargreaves Associates and Sherwood Design Engineers.
“China Southern Airlines’ vision for a new district that embodies its global leadership and supports ongoing innovation afforded an opportunity to really advance our thinking about the connections between economy, ecology and culture,” said Richard Marshall, Joint CEO/Director of Urban Design at Woods Bagot. ■
