Gold Futuristic Design · 2020
Megalopolis X Shenzhen Super Headquarter
by QUAD Studio
- A' Design Award 2020 Gold Winner in Futuristic Design
- Awarded April 15, 2020
- CLIENT: QUAD studio
- Estimated Number of Design Views: 990,419
- Verification code 2D6AE34C5E · Verify this award
About Megalopolis X Shenzhen Super Headquarter
Megalopolis X will be the new center in the heart of the greater bay area, close to the border between Hong Kong and Shenzhen. The master plan integrates architecture with pedestrian networks, parks and public spaces. Above and below ground transportation networks are being planned by maximizing connectivity in the city. A below ground sustainable infrastructure network will provide systems for district cooling and automatic waste treatment in a seamless manner. The aim is to establish a creative master plan framework of how cities will be designed in the future.
This extraordinary visualization represents a pinnacle of contemporary visionary architectural practice, positioning itself within the evolving tradition of integrated urban megaprojects that seek to reconcile vertical density with horizontal public generosity. QUAD studio's Megalopolis X Shenzhen Super Headquarter emerges from decades of discourse surrounding sustainable urbanism and the vertical city concept, drawing upon parametric design methodologies that enable complex geometric relationships between tower and platform to achieve organic coherence. The technical achievement manifests most notably in the compositional resolution of the central tower's articulation, where the rhythmic interruption of sky lobbies creates visual rest points that humanize the monumental scale while providing programmatic variety and structural logic. The chromatic sophistication demonstrates particular accomplishment in the subtle gradation of materials from the warm bronze-toned horizontal bands to the cool glass expanses, creating thermal and visual contrast that animates the facade throughout changing light conditions. The pavilion structure at the platform's center suggests influences from tensile architecture traditions, its faceted geometry perhaps evoking crystalline or mineral formations that connect technological achievement with natural precedent. The landscape treatment reveals careful attention to biophilic design principles, with verdant pathways and generous planting suggesting commitment to environmental amenity and human wellness within high-density development. The waterfront interface achieves particular elegance through its organic edge condition, avoiding rigid geometries in favor of fluid boundaries that echo natural shoreline formations while accommodating programmatic requirements for access and circulation. Viewers might contemplate how such visionary proposals imagine urban futures where technological capability serves collective aspiration, where architectural ambition embraces ecological responsibility, and where the vertical city becomes not merely efficient but genuinely humane.
Press Kit
- Unique Properties
- The incorporation of technological advances and a framework of a city of the future go beyond the design of mega towers that may dominate a city skyline. Rather, it encapsulates from the start a diversified Eco belt covering the full width across an east-west axis, around which a central park defines its depth.
The design also anticipates the use of future technologies by creating as much public space above ground as possible, whilst incorporating a supportive utility infrastructure below ground to service the entire city. - Dimensions & Packaging
- Spanning 120 hectares Megalopolis X is located on the southern edges of Shenzhen between Shenzhen Bay and Futian. If one look at Shenzhen in isolation the area connects the city along a semi-circle. But, if one look in the context of Hong Kong and Shenzhen as a whole, it becomes the centre of the two cities linking together to become one single Mega city.
With 5.5 million square meters of gross floor area Megalopolis X would support over 200,000 people, connected to the larger Mega city and Greater Bay Area through a series of railway lines, road networks, and public transport interchanges. - Tags
- Shenzhen, Shenzhen Bay, Shenzhen Bay Super Headquarter Base, Megalopolis X, Masterplan, Master planning, MLP, Architectural Competition
- Production Technology
- From the masterplan QUAD identified 9 key districts that coalesce to form Megalopolis X. Those center on the main axis of the future city reinforcing the connective infrastructure and central nodes.
Each district has its own character interweaving to form places for creativity, and the transfer of knowledge & ideas crucial to innovation. Multi-level green spines complete with lush vegetation, walking paths, and public realms create a connection to nature where recreational facilities fuse together with art and culture to form one continuous landscape for the people of Shenzhen. - Design Challenge
- Imagine a city based on cutting edge technology, futuristic in nature fused with contemporary arts for a city of creative polymaths for the year 2050?
The challenge was to not simply create a hub for Shenzhen, yet a heart for the Greater Bay Area. A place where people from around the world would come to marvel at the next generation of future cities, a place where QUAD rethink the future designing the architecture and urban realms for creative communities to develop a platform for all to lead the way towards creation.
Megalopolis X will be a catalyst becoming the brain of the Greater Bay Area. - Project Duration
- Megalopolis X was created in response to the Shenzhen Bay Super Headquarter Base architectural ideas competition hosted by the city of Shenzhen. The consortium that made up the project team consisted of QUAD Studio Hong Kong, Atelier 10 Singapore, and MVA Hong Kong. QUAD were one of 15 creative international design teams invited to take on the task over the 3 month competition period.
- Operation Flow
- People working and living in Megalopolis X will be able to walk to all parts of the city. It entails creating a permeable multilevel pedestrian linkage from below ground to upper deck that blends together with landscape, art and cafes, public spaces, and key transport nodes.
In turn, the multilevel pedestrian realm links public spaces allowing people to gather and interact, promoting social encounters and knowledge sharing. An environment that changes the way people live and work inside the future city whilst defining and forming different ideas of different districts within the city. - Research
- Automated living has become a part of everyday lives, the need to look into the future to see what kind of infrastructure designer can put in place to cater for the latest technology of today whilst allowing for the designs of tomorrow.
District Cooling – Highly efficiently district wide chilled water.
Centralized Waste Collection – Underground automatic waste conveyancing.
Waste to Energy System – State of the art waste gasification.
Logistic Delivery and Collection – Underground centralized autonomous delivery services.
Underground Common Services Corridor. - Inspiration
- Megalopolis X is located on the southern edges of Shenzhen between Shenzhen Bay and Futian. Looking at Shenzhen as city in isolation, the base covers all regions of Shenzhen in a shape of a semi circle. Looking at a bigger picture in the context of Hong Kong and Shenzhen as a whole, the base is in the centre of two cities, and in this perspective, it changes its context.
By 2047, Shenzhen and Hong Kong will be one single megalopolis. - Image Credits
- Image #1, SAN, 2018
Image #2, Silkroad
Image #3, Silkroad
Image #4, SAN, 2018
Image #5, SAN, 2018
Video Credits: Silkroad, QUAD - Patents
- Copyrights belong to QUAD studio, 2019
Colors of Megalopolis X Shenzhen Super Headquarter
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G0E3 ShopDesign Interview about Megalopolis X Shenzhen Super Headquarter
Megalopolis X is located on the southern edges of Shenzhen between Shenzhen Bay and Futian. Looking at Shenzhen as city in isolation, the base covers all regions of Shenzhen in a shape of a semi circle. Looking at a bigger picture in the context of Hong Kong and Shenzhen as a whole, the base is in the centre of two cities, and in this perspective, it changes its context. By 2047, Shenzhen and Hong Kong will be one single megalopolis.
Megalopolis X was created in response to the Shenzhen Bay Super Headquarter Base architectural ideas competition hosted by the city of Shenzhen. The consortium that made up the project team consisted of Quad Studio Hong Kong, Atelier 10 Singapore, and MVA Hong Kong. We were one of 15 creative international design teams invited to take on the task over the 3 month competition period.
Megalopolis X exists as the centre and heart of the Megalopolis. It contains core attribute that makes it the true centre and the innovative brain of the Greater Bay Area. Imagine a city based on cutting edge technology with futuristic nature and contemporary arts all fused together for a city of creative polymaths for the year 2050? Taking on the task to create not hubs, but the heart of the Greater Bay Area. A place where people from around the world gather and marvel on the next generation.
Imagine a city based on cutting edge technology, futuristic in nature fused with contemporary arts for a city of creative polymaths for the year 2050? The challenge was to not simply create a hub for Shenzhen, yet a heart for the Greater Bay Area. A place where people from around the world would come to marvel at the next generation of future cities, a place where we rethink the future designing the architecture and urban realms for creative communities to develop a platform for all of us to lead the way towards creation. Megalopolis X will be a catalyst becoming the brain of the Greater Bay Area.