Dongfang City Coast Zone Urban Design International Competition

PEI Architects joint ventured with China Architectural Design Group (CADG) to deliver the winning Conceptual Planning and Urban Design scheme for the Dongfang City Master Plan in Hainan, China. The announcement of our selection was made in December 2020 by the Dongfang Housing and Urban Rural Construction Bureau.

LOCATION: Dongfang City, Hainan , China

CLIENT: Dongfang Housing and Urban Rural Construction Bureau

SIZE: 177,000 SQ. M / 1,905,200 SQ. F

STATUS: Completed Design Scheme

The proposed plan covers the 9.5 square km site located on the western shore of Hainan Island. The master plan is part of President Xi Jinping’s planned development of a free trade port cities for the Hainan’s Free Trade Pilot Zone project. Our winning scheme consisted of multiple development core sites that formed distinct economic, cultural, residential and leisure zones interconnected by a park and rail trail system.

In the Cultural zone, the team conceived of a landscaped seaside cultural entertainment area that anchors a lively civic park for Dongfang’s iconic lighthouse monument. Within this park the proposed uses are for an exhibition theater and e-sports station complex, indoor retail complex, oceanic aquarium and a vibrant food hall. All are designed with an organic architecture that integrates with the undulating landscape emanating from the landmark tower.

This Central Business District (CBD) zone will be the main economic engine of the development and will contain a majority of the city’s high-rise commercial buildings around a central canal that meanders through the site to connect to the ocean beyond. Surrounding a 250 meter signature office tower will be a series of smaller towers anchoring the perimeter and forming gateway entrances to the middle of the site. To ensure activity at all times this district has been zoned for a mixture of uses including office, residential, retail and cultural buildings.

At the heart of the masterplan lies a leisure zone on a manmade island. Here, a luxury resort hotel, a restaurant complex and entertainment theatre facilities will form the core of a central leisure resort complex conveniently situated adjacent to the CBD zone. Each resort building will be nestled into an individual clearing within a thickly forested hill that gently rises up out of the lake to provide privacy, quiet and framed views to the lake beyond.