Gulin New Town
In this study, titled Gulin New Town the Urban Design Lab (UDL) resources and further elaborates a postgraduate Urban Design Studio in the Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation (GSAPP) focused on design recommendations for Gulin New Town in Szechuan Province in the People’s Republic of China.
Gulin is considered a “fourth tier” city, a designation that anticipates rapid growth and a new global presence by 2020. In anticipation, Gulin has begun construction of a “New City”, comprised of an east-west waterfront axis along the Gulin River, with a central north-south axis devoted to landscape and cultural activities. The landscape axis is considered the most important feature of the New Town, consisting of office buildings housing Gulin County and Southern Sichuan Provincial governments, a civic center, a business zone, a formal park, and a forest preserve. This axis must respect the extraordinary natural ecology of the site; Gulin is already a tourist destination, and it is anticipated that the new development enhances this potential for further economic development without destructive side effects. While preliminary design have already been undertaken, the new north-south axis will be at the last phase of construction. The UDL’s work provides important further input into the nature of its design and development and the report is an integrated design framework summarizing the design approach.
Managing Editors and Designers: Richard Plunz, Lay Bee Yap and Tschen Shue
Post Studio Team: Richard Plunz, Geeta Mehta, Tshen Shue, Lay Bee Yap, Helen Cheuk, He Shui, Conghui Zhou
Publication Assistants: Chao Dong, Chengxi Wang, Elena Kapompasopoulou, Qianrong Huang, Yi-bing Sun
Sponsors and Collaborators: People’s Government of Gulin County, Housing and Urban-Rural Planning and Construction Office, Gulin County; City Design Institute of the Central Academy of Fine Arts, Beijing; Urban China Initiative; Columbia Global Center, East Asia