Weifang
Weifang, Chine
2016
The city of Weifang, in China’s Shandong province, was looking to reconsider its urban model based on Chinese principles. As part of the program, DGT and Richez Associés drew up the master plan for the high-tech city extension. Framed around natural infrastructure, programming, and uses, the proposal included providing residents with essential and recreational services. This remodeled city aligns with the specifications of the sustainable city, factoring in the site’s high risk of water stress, groundwater pollution, and heatwaves.
- Integrating protected areas and using them in the natural network.
- The topography is harnessed to plan the water flow path and manage rainwater naturally with green spaces.
- Opening up the urban form to the summer wind to cool the city in hot weather by eliminating humidity in public spaces and buildings.
- Public transport lines determine the main nodes of intensity.
- Expanding watercourses, adding green spaces around protected areas, and linking them all together to allow the flow through of water, vegetation, and wildlife.
- Showcasing existing rivers and waterscapes. Identifying historic waterways. Coping with flash floods and keeping Weifang’s water underground. The new watercourses will not always be filled with water, but will be used to retain and channel water during heavy rainfall.
For this program, our studio developed a method for drawing up the guide plan. Hydraulic and ecological continuities, prevailing winds, and topography are layered on top of the existing orthogonal road network to create an organic plan. The “urban islands” thus formed become the “negative” part of a reinforced natural framework, providing ecosystem services, such as the management of heavy rainfall, and supporting a variety of uses and functions (agriculture, sport, wind power generation). The transport network and the position of the islands determine their density and programming to ensure coherent, contextualized development. This natural framework promotes the restoration of impaired ecological cycles, provides ecosystem services such as the management of heavy rainfall, supports a variety of uses and functions (agriculture, sport, wind energy production), and strengthens the region’s resilience to climate change.
A city reshaped by the water matrix
A city reshaped by the water matrix
Agriculture
- Phreatic low
- Phreatic high
A city reshaped by the water matrix
Pollution control park
- Phreatic low
- Phreatic high
A city reshaped by the water matrix
Sports fields
- Phreatic low
- Phreatic high
A city reshaped by the water matrix
City park
- Phreatic low
- Phreatic high
A city reshaped by the water matrix
Vegetable gardens
- Phreatic low
- Phreatic high
A city reshaped by the water matrix
Kite power, renewable energy park
- Phreatic low
- Phreatic high
A city reshaped by the water matrix
Client
Weifang City
Team
DGT Architectes, Richez Associés, Atelier Franck Boutté
Surface
42.5 mi²
Schedule
2016 (2nd place)
AFB Team
Mohamed Benzerzour
AFB alumni: Alexandre Bastien, Camille De Gaulmyn, and Florian Dupont
Mohamed Benzerzour
/ Project Director