Tangshan Hot Spring, China

modern interpretation of traditional urban forms

The Tangshan Hot Spring Masterplan involves the provision of 150,000 sqm of tourist, leisure, retail and residential accommodation located within a new city development east of Nanjing, China. A six storey hotel and conference centre provides a focal point and public frontage to the development while a more intimate, mixed use tourist town and retail development provide an intricate and sheltered series of spaces.

The local identity, culture and history of the area is one where water plays a central role in everyday life with urban environments contrasting between active public thoroughfares and more serene, private courtyard spaces. Contemporary Nanjing embraces a modern language of architecture while still rooted in local materials and a close relationship to water and reference to local traditions.

The masterplan proposes a tight-knit composition of four distinct neighbourhoods, linked by a central civic plaza, in turn juxtaposed by a linear park forming a continuous pedestrian route through the wider city masterplan. The built form is a modern interpretation of traditional urban forms, typologies and characteristics.