Henning Larsen wins competition to build Chinese leisure city

New York is known for its skyscrapers, Miami, for its saved art deco buildings, and Shenzhen, China, may soon be known as one of the coolest places in the Orient to just go and chill. Of course, the city is much more than that already, and has big plans including an eye-catching new headquarters planned for genome maker iCarbonX.

But that’s just a small part of what’s in store for Shenzhen. With Danish architecture firm Henning Larsen recently winning an international competition to design a waterfront district for the Chinese city, the planned new quarter of Shenzhen will have ample public space, as well as tree-edged boulevards, gardens, and plazas.

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The "leisure city" aspect of the development will comprise multiple cultural attractions, the project’s architects said. It will have a Ferris wheel, outdoor sculptures, rooftop art exhibits, and a waterside promenade.

"Our design aims to make Shenzhen the waterfront city it should always have been," says Claude Godefroy, partner and design director of Henning Larsen’s Hong Kong office. "To create an attractive waterfront, we brought commercial and cultural facilities metres away from the seashore, so citizens will finally be able to enjoy the atmosphere of Shenzhen Bay in an activated urban environment, like in Sydney, Singapore or Copenhagen."