The design competition for the coastal area of Shenshan in China was won by OKRA in cooperation with MLA+. The team presented a nature-based design program for mountain, sea and land development for a project area of 19 square kilometres. The design program respects the Chinese historical water strategy and combines it with the modern Dutch approach.

Green-blue heart of Shenzhen
The result is a series of future-proof coastal defence works in which technology and landscape design are integrated. This creates a lively succession of protected spaces along this beautiful 12-kilometre long coast. Our marine and freshwater strategies create space for buffer zones that prioritise protection and ecology, restore existing ecosystems and create a ‘sponge development’ that enhances the quality and resilience of nature and urban space: an elastic landscape. The new green-blue heart of Shenzhen.

Expertise
With this design for Shenshan’s coastal area, OKRA has once again demonstrated its expertise in coastal defence design, following successful projects in Cadzand-Bad and the Katwijk Coastal Zone project, where a natural dune landscape has been developed that not only preserves the value and identity of the existing city but also strengthens it. Currently, OKRA is also working on an integrated ecological vision for the southern French coast.

See a multimedia animation of the project (Chinese with English subtitles).

This project has been awarded the Outstanding Award by the 2020 IFLAA AAPME International Awards 2020 and the 2020 Greater Bay Area Urban Design Awards (Grand Award).