Wuhan CBD

Wuhan is a city of 11,000,000 people in Hubei Province, China and is unfortunately better known these days as the epicentre of the Covid-19 pandemic. Located at the confluence of China’s North-South and East-West axis and the centre of the ‘National Innovation Demonstration’ zone, Wuhan is home to many of China’s next generation industries. In contrast to the dense urban environment of its centre, Wuhan is surrounded rolling hills, large open spaces and numerous lakes and waterways.

One of the first phases of a long range, city-wide masterplan, this project was a competition submission, and was awarded first prize in 2012. Sitting above a new metro station, the project was a transit-oriented development proposed as a city within a city. Four unique precincts are distributed on either side of a green spine – with the eastern precincts predominantly residential and the western precincts providing commercial office and retail functions along with connectivity to the metro system.

The architecture for the project pursued a range of design strategies with sustainability at the forefront. The residential buildings are positioned to maximize exposure to southern daylight while also optimizing the western afternoon sun and capturing views out over the adjacent landscape. The perforated mass approach, where window openings are inserted into thick, insulated external walls, ensured a high-level of thermal performance in both winter and summer months. In contrast, the commercial office buildings employed a high performance, glazed window wall to maximize ingress of natural daylight in combination with external shading devices.