Project details · Urban design · Shenzhen

Gankeng

Twenty-nine hectares of industrial land in a valley in northern Shenzhen, replanned as a place to work, live and visit — linked on foot to the Hakka town that gave it its name.

Project: Gankeng Ancient Town District Masterplan
Location: Longgang, Shenzhen, China
Client: OCT — Overseas Chinese Town, Shenzhen
Year: 2016
Study area: 28.7 ha, 13 plots
Programme: VR and technology industry, housing, hotel and serviced apartments, education, retail
Status: Land-use feasibility study
Design: Architecture Georges Hung

The question was never how much to build. It was where to put the height, and what to give back at the ground.

The brief

Gankeng sits at the end of a mountain ridge that sweeps across northern Shenzhen. Hills rise 110 metres around the valley. At its northern edge is Gankeng village, a Hakka settlement of walled courtyards, carved timber and craft. The rest of the valley was warehouses five to seven metres high, temporary sheds, empty apartment blocks and small vegetable plots.

The zoning gave 87% of the buildable land to industry, 11% to housing and 1.5% to commerce. The client wanted something else: a hub for the virtual-reality industry, with homes, schools and leisure, that would also bring visitors to the old town.

Coloured master layout plan of the valley, with the Hakka village to the north, a green spine running south and new blocks along the western and southern edges — Master layout plan — the Hakka village at the top, the green spine running south through the new districtDesign: Architecture Georges Hung. Image: Architecture Georges Hung.

The tension

The floor area asked for could be met easily with towers. Spread evenly across the valley, they would have hidden the hills and dwarfed the village. The plan had to carry real density and still feel like a place shaped by its landscape.

Two diagrams: towers rising from a multi-level pedestrian deck, and a valley section with taller blocks at the edges and open views across the centre — Massing hierarchy — towers at the valley edges, views kept open across the centre, a terraced walk at their feetDesign: Architecture Georges Hung. Image: Architecture Georges Hung.

Put the height against the mountain. Give the valley floor to people.

The move

I set the towers along the western and southern edges, at the foot of the slopes, and let height step down toward the Hakka town. Between them, a green promenade and a boulevard run the length of the valley, about 1.2 kilometres from the new arrival plaza to the old town gate.

Roads drop beneath a terraced public realm. People walk fifteen to twenty metres above the traffic, at the level of shops, workplaces and gardens. Buildings along it set back 17 metres, so the promenade widens into gardens instead of narrowing into a corridor.

Hand sketch in black and green ink: the green spine linking the village to the new district — First sketch — one green line from the old town to the new

Section sketch in white and yellow on black: commercial tower, multi-level pedestrian promenade, covered road and low-level R&D complex — Section sketch — roads below, a walking landscape above

Sketches: Georges Hung.

Two black plan diagrams: three urban gateways marked at the valley entrances, and green zones linked by a linear green spine — Urban gateways and the linear green spine that ties them togetherDesign: Architecture Georges Hung. Image: Architecture Georges Hung.

Cross-section through Xiufeng Road, Fengcheng Road and Third Xiufeng Street: terraced podiums with pedestrian levels at 15 and 20 metres and a 155-metre office tower — Section — terraced podiums lift the walk to 15 and 20 metres; the tallest tower stands back at 155 metresDesign: Architecture Georges Hung. Image: Architecture Georges Hung.

How it works

01
A walk with a rhythm
A public node every 250 to 300 metres, four to five minutes apart: a plaza, a view, a place to stop. The heritage town is under twenty minutes on foot from the new district.
02
Three plazas, three scales
Each is set by the ratio of building height to plaza width: 1:5, 1:1 and 1:2. One wide and open, one close like a room, one in between.
03
The hills as part of the route
The promenade joins a green loop and three trails — peak, urban and green — so the mountains become part of the daily walk, not a backdrop to it.
04
Three users, one street
The plan was organised around the entrepreneur on weekdays, the resident every day and the visitor at weekends, so the street stays alive all week.
05
Moving without cars
GPS-guided people-mover pods link the plazas, drop-offs and parking, so the promenade is left to people on foot.
06
Built in three phases
Housing, offices and the VR headquarters first, with new roads and underground parking. Then more industry and the landscape park. Then the second office stage, the main pedestrian street and more homes.

Two black plan diagrams: urban connectivity across the valley, and cultural, entertainment and leisure nodes along the north–south spine — Connectivity and nodes — culture, entertainment and leisure placed along the spineDesign: Architecture Georges Hung. Image: Architecture Georges Hung.

Axonometric of the boulevard and green promenade with walking times between nodes: 300 metres or five minutes along the boulevard, 250 metres or four minutes along the promenade to the heritage town — The promenade — a node every four to five minutes, ending at the Hakka townDesign: Architecture Georges Hung. Image: Architecture Georges Hung.

Three plazas

Each plaza marks a change in the walk, from the old town to the new. Their names say what they hold: memory, gathering and invention.

Rendering of the central plaza under a cellular canopy, with visitors, glowing light spheres and small robots on an illuminated floor — Central Plaza — a canopy for gathering, where technology is part of the public realmDesign: Architecture Georges Hung. Image: Architecture Georges Hung.

Rendering of the Ancient Plaza: a giant figure sculpture, tree-like coloured canopies and lawn at the edge of the old town — Ancient Plaza — the threshold to the Hakka town

Rendering of the Future Plaza: a perforated canopy on sculpted columns and holographic figures in a paved square — Future Plaza — the gateway to the VR district

Design: Architecture Georges Hung. Image: Architecture Georges Hung.

28.7 ha: study area across 13 plots, at the end of a mountain ridge, with hills rising 110 m around it.
FAR 6.0–9.0: plot by plot. Homes at 6.0, the VR headquarters at 9.0, the height held at the valley edge.
1.2 km: green promenade and boulevard, from the new arrival plaza to the old town gate.
250–300 m: between public nodes, four to five minutes on foot.
15–20 m: above the roads: the level where people walk, shop and meet.
< 20 min: on foot from the new district to the Hakka town gate.

Rendering of a tree-lined green promenade with people walking and cycling, terraced podiums and escalators rising beside it — The entrance — the green promenade begins under trees, with the terraces rising beside itDesign: Architecture Georges Hung. Image: Architecture Georges Hung.

Rendering at dusk of a terraced pedestrian street between glass towers, with light canopies and the old town and hills beyond — The main street at dusk — terraces step down toward the old town and the hillsDesign: Architecture Georges Hung. Image: Architecture Georges Hung.

What it gave back

The study was presented to local planning officials. It widened the developer’s vision into a regional one: bring a new technology sector to this part of Shenzhen, and let it grow alongside the area’s heritage rather than over it. For the officials, it became a way to picture the next stage of urbanisation, with room for the next generation of technology, AI and robotics research.

Heritage was not a backdrop to the new district. It set the direction: the old town decided where the height could go, and where every walk would lead.

Aerial rendering by day: the Hakka village in the foreground, the promenade threading south between towers set against wooded hills — The valley by day — the village in front, the new district held against the hillsDesign: Architecture Georges Hung. Image: Architecture Georges Hung.

The brief

The tension

The move

How it works

A walk with a rhythm

Three plazas, three scales

The hills as part of the route

Three users, one street

Moving without cars

Built in three phases

Three plazas

What it gave back