Ningbo Waterfront | HKS

Architecture, Landscape & Urban planning, Mixed Use

Ningbo Waterfront

Through the arts comes a celebration of culture. But celebrating culture means embracing your history. It means understanding where you came from. Knowing where you will go. The Ningbo Waterfront provides the latest venue of cultural celebration and the performing arts while keeping its roots in the community’s history. The Ningbo Waterfront is an adaptive reuse waterfront entertainment master plan for the city of Ningbo, China. The 10,000- to 15,000 square meters of new retail and entertainment space incorporate an existing 4,770-square-meter warehouse. The warehouse is to be repositioned into a theater for the arts. There are two historic dry docks (or slips) on-site that are to be incorporated as prominent features to the master plan.

The Vision
To create a hub of fashion, fine dining, entertainment, and relaxation in the heart of a city that’s ready to reintroduce itself to the world.

The Design
Fashion and Glamour
High street retail, combined with a great venue, constitutes an appealing approach to a site that can promise to become one of the best retail environments. Luxury, high-end shopping, iconic architecture, and a beautiful site provide the formula for a successful marketplace.

Playfulness, Community, Tradition, Folklore
These are key elements that a new riverfront development should embrace. To become a successful destination, the Ningbo Waterfront project must communicate and interact with its community and its environment in a respectful way. By giving the people of Ningbo a place to have fun, to congregate, and interact, the riverfront will become an iconic vibrant, and enriching place. It will create a venue that few other cities in the world have to offer. A place to be proud of. Lights, Color, Shapes. One Big Show. One Memorable Event
To attract people, architects rely on the most visually motivating environments to produce the greatest emotions and experiences. By providing colorful and delightful shapes, enticing forms, and alluring light games, the architecture will always be iconic and memorable. A riverfront performance venue should achieve the minimum of the highest standards for sensorial moments.