Photographer: Tianpei Zeng | ArchDaily

The Nanshan Affiliated School of Beijing Normal University / Z&Z STUDIO

韩爽 - HAN Shuang — Sun, 26 Jul 2026 02:00:00 +0000

Located in the coastal city of Shenzhen, the campus is envisioned as a "terraced courtyard campus" that harmoniously integrates mountain, park, and harbor landscapes. Built along a gentle slope overlooking both the adjacent park and the harbor, the design transforms its natural surroundings into its greatest asset—a place where students can "look up to lush mountains and out to the sea." Breaking away from conventional school design models, the project employs a cross-frame layout and terraced massing that respond sensitively to the site's topography. This approach ensures mountain views for all general classrooms, while specialized classrooms are oriented southward to maximize natural daylight. The core vision is to create a human-scaled, verdant terraced academy. Drawing from Lingnan courtyard traditions and tailored to the local climate, the campus offers a learning environment composed of "hill-like terraces" and "intimate courtyards."

Underground Architecture Around the World: 15 Examples of Mimicry and Thermodynamic Efficiency

Santiago Baraya — Sun, 05 Jul 2026 17:41:00 +0000

As a human creation, architecture as an object always poses the challenge of its integration into the landscape. When a design opts to go underground, it can bring various design benefits, such as blending into the context, as well as technical advantages like increased thermodynamic efficiency.

Shenzhen Longhua Foreign Languages School (Fucheng Campus) / Z&Z STUDIO

韩爽 - HAN Shuang — Mon, 11 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000

This project is located at the southwest corner of the intersection of Guanlan Avenue and the planned Xitian Road in Longhua District, Shenzhen. Covering a site area of 24,478.25 square meters and a total construction area of 55,737 square meters. It falls within the urban renewal unit of Tianbei Industrial Zone in Fucheng Street, Longhua District. The project is a nine-year compulsory education school comprising 54 classes—36 primary school classes and 18 middle school classes—with a total capacity of 2,520 students. Located within a high-density urban village undergoing regeneration, the campus forms a key educational facility within the urban renewal context.

From Rapidity to Specificity: Multiple Dimensions of Shenzhen's Architectural Development

韩爽 — Fri, 24 Oct 2025 07:30:00 +0000

Shenzhen is China's first Special Economic Zone（SEZ), serving as a window for China's Reform and Opening-up and an emerging immigrant city. It has evolved into an influential, modern, and international metropolis, creating the world-renowned "Shenzhen Speed" and earning the reputation of the "City of Design." Architectural design stands as the most intuitive expression of Shenzhen's spirit of integration and innovation. Over the past decade (2015-2025), the development of urban architecture in Shenzhen has closely integrated with its open and inclusive urban character, ecological advantages of being nestled between mountains and the sea, and the local spirit of blending traditional culture with innovative technology, showcasing Shenzhen's unique charm and robust vitality across multiple dimensions.

Pedestrian Infrastructure: 15 Bridges Connecting Public Spaces and Transforming Cities

Paula Pintos — Sat, 21 Sep 2024 07:30:00 +0000

There is growing awareness of the importance of developing pedestrian infrastructure. Bridges and elevated structures enhance the quality of cities by connecting spaces and reducing distances. Their use benefits pedestrians and the thousands of cyclists seeking a more sustainable mode of transportation.

The Hidden Carbon Cost of Climate Retrofits

Ankitha Gattupalli — Sun, 21 Jul 2024 07:30:00 +0000

Evolving urban conditions call for an evolving builtscape, and retrofits have been a key mechanism to allow buildings to adapt and respond to new needs. Amidst global environmental concerns, climate retrofits have become a popular strategy to upgrade buildings based on improved operational efficiency. Global decarbonization plans have even called for city-wide retrofits, such as in the case of London, to meet civic goals. While such upgrades significantly reduce energy consumption, they often come with a hidden cost - embodied carbon in retrofit materials and the potential for future waste.

Building Energy Saving Retrofit in Liu Lian Primary School / FORWARD STUDIO

Pilar Caballero — Tue, 09 Jan 2024 00:00:00 +0000

Pingdi Liulian Primary School is a school scene in the "Five Ones" Energy Saving and Carbon Reduction Model Program in Longgang District. Forward design, in collaboration with Jianxue Design and CSCEC, combined energy-saving, carbon-reducing, and zero-carbon technologies to complete the renovation of the nation's first elementary school in a PEDF project, and Shenzhen's first near-zero-energy elementary school campus utilizing the renovation of an existing building.

Dongguan Central Area Slow-Traffic System / eLandscript Studio

Pilar Caballero — Wed, 13 Dec 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Project Background, With the upgrade of Dongguan's manufacturing industry, an increasing number of talents are attracted here resulting in more construction of subways and intercity railways. Given the 8 km Slow-Traffic Green Axis from the Regional master plan, the team proposed a master plan of Dongguan Slow-Traffic System with a total length of 3 km in the central zone of Dongguan.

Ancient History: China's Legacy of Monuments and Memorials

Eric Baldwin — Sun, 03 Dec 2023 07:30:00 +0000

Few countries showcase living history like China. From the iconic Forbidden City to diverse landscapes and building styles, China has a rich cultural and architectural legacy. As the world’s largest construction market, the country continues to invest in new projects. At the same time, this rapid urbanization and accelerated development is juxtaposed with ancient building sites intertwined with layers of history and collective memory.

Absen Dongjiang Intelligent Manufacturing Center R&D Building / JC design

Valeria Silva — Fri, 03 Nov 2023 00:00:00 +0000

The office R&D building is an important way to display the core technology and corporate symbol of an enterprise, which shoulders the mission of highlighting the spirit and culture of the enterprise. JC Design combines the corporate culture and spirit of Absen to truly, in a way to pay tribute to the classic, to create an innovative technology, green and low-carbon, sports and health international R&D center building that belongs to both the present and the future. Faced with the depletion of resources and environmental pollution caused by the development of today's society, we should deeply reflect on how to create environmentally responsible and eco-friendly buildings through design. The project implements the core design concept of green and low-carbon, and strives to build it into a green energy-saving demonstration park.

Longgang Core Area Overpasses Design / FCHA

Yu Xin Li — Tue, 11 Oct 2022 00:00:00 +0000

Project background
As a pilot area for the network integration of rail transit, bus and slow traffic system proposed by Shenzhen Municipal Government, the "Three Pavilions and One City" area in Longgang stipulates that the major developers must plan and implement the "Tri-Network Integration" transportation system within the scope of 0.8 square kilometers through the restriction of land development conditions. FCHA collaborates with Vanke Urban Research Institute to plan, design and implement the system, a total of 9 overpasses and weatherproof corridors along the street are set up in the central urban area of Longgang, connecting subway stations, bus stations, businesses and residential areas, which has the originally isolated and closed urban functional groups connected together in a three-dimensional way, which realizes the all-weather three-dimensional and convenient traffic network.

How Can Architectural Spaces Be for Everyone?

Xiaohang Hou — Fri, 24 Jun 2022 04:00:00 +0000

Democracy’s essence is the people's self-government and autonomy based on their own rights, and its characteristics are demonstrated through equality and participation. If democracy means a more equitable way of public life in architecture, then, this way of life is dependent on the homogenization of the building's spatial structure, with open, transparent, and functionally diverse public spaces. It is also possible to argue that the birth, maintenance, and demise of democracy all occurred in public space.

How Can Greenhouse Design Change Architecture?

Eric Baldwin — Sun, 03 Apr 2022 07:30:00 +0000

Few structures are as elegant and ingenious as greenhouses. Largely built with simple and straightforward designs, these minimalist shelters create airy and light-filled spaces that shape indoor climate. Dedicated to the cultivation of plants and crops, they are diverse projects combining programs and systems to emphasize sustainability, education and conservation. At their heart, greenhouses are about experience and discovery.

Community Center of Baishadao Financial Town / WANG HUI | URBANUS

Collin Chen — Sun, 06 Mar 2022 03:00:00 +0000

Located in a new financial town in the suburb of Shenyang, this planned 5,000 square meters community center belongs to a commercial plot that will house 50,000 square meters of future development. Our program research discovered two disadvantages: 1. this newly developing area does not have sufficient population to support large quantities of retails; 2. It is very questionable how to make a typical shopping center competitive. After a discussion with the client, we both agreed that this commercial center should be something special. Thus came the idea of using a botanic garden to energize the space. The client was very much excited about the proposal and commissioned URBANUS to design the entire 50,000 square meters project, rather than a singular community center. After analyzing various potential commercial models in this area, an innovative layout appeared: a greenhouse was employed as the center of all programs to attract visitors and start-up businesses.

Guosen Securities Tower / Studio Fuksas

Collin Chen — Tue, 01 Feb 2022 01:00:00 +0000

The Guosen Securities Tower is a tower height 228 m, in Shenzhen, China. The project by Studio Fuksas is born from the intention to create a new concept of vertical public space for the tower. A three-dimensional void is arranged along the facades giving a dynamic image to the building and creating different public scenarios for the offices. The design of the void shape explores the relation between the podium and the vertical section of the tower with diagonal spaces and fluxes that create a vertical tension in the full height of the tower.

Biodiversity in Urban Environments

Andreea Cutieru — Fri, 07 Jan 2022 08:30:00 +0000

Biodiversity has become ubiquitous in project descriptions as yet another mark of the design's environmental accomplishments. The increasing focus on sustainability, the standard inspired by the UN Sustainable Development Goals, prompts a deeper understanding of what biodiversity in urban environments means and how can architecture and urban design actively contribute to it. With species extinction rates soaring and urbanization over natural land continuing, cities become an essential factor in sustaining biodiversity, and the following explores how the built environment can foster multi-species habitats.

Best Architectural Projects of 2021

Clara Ott — Wed, 22 Dec 2021 07:30:00 +0000

More than 5000 new projects published throughout 2021 make ArchDaily the largest online architecture library in the world. ArchDaily Curatorial Team researches, contacts offices, prepares, and delivers the built projects in the world on a daily basis, with the objective of providing inspiration, knowledge, and tools to our users who take part in the creation of better built environments.

Revitalization of Shenyang Dongmaoku / WANG HUI | URBANUS

Collin Chen — Mon, 20 Dec 2021 23:00:00 +0000

Dongmaoku, a former warehouse campus in Shenyang, is the PRC’s first generation of logistic facilities constructed since the Korea War period. With over 30 individual warehouses, Dongmaoku has significant value for the study of the logistics building typology in modern China. Although Dongmaoku was listed as ‘valuable historical buildings in Shenyang’ in 2019, it became a real estate development project in 2020. After the Spring Festival of 2020, the government decided to preserve 7 warehouses in Dongmaoku. URBANUS was invited to give a master plan for the non-housing part of this project. With the completion of the first phase of the Dongmaoku renovation, a new energetic scenario has shown in the community. This achievement confirms the importance of five critical paths during the design process within a very short decision-making period.