In February 2021, the urban quality upgrade project for Dongguan Guangfa Area, designed by AUBE Conception, has been fully completed after almost one year of renovation and improvement work. The project, as the first demonstration program to promote the quality of urban block-style living within central Dongguan city’s “One Core, Two Axes, Three Areas” scope, showcases an urban public space bursting with vitality and nature. Located on the east side of Dongguan administrative center, Dongguan Guangfa Area covers an area of approximately 11 hectares. Consisting of 4 residential communities and 3 commercial buildings, it is the key component of the public space corridor which connects Dongguan Central Plaza, Huangqi Mountain and the green space to the west of Dongguan International Conference & Exhibition Center. As the network hub of Dongguan urban public culture, business district and ecology corridor, Guangfa Area possesses the dual characteristics of urban publicity and connectivity which makes it the core to promote the quality upgrade of central Dongguan district.

The site of Dongguan Guangfa Area urban quality upgrade project occupies an area to renovate of around 80,000m2, including road area of roughly 20,000 m2 and landscape area of about 60,000m2. In corporation with the construction agent, Dongguan Vanke Real Estate, AUBE Conception carries out comprehensive renovation and in-depth improvement upon aspects of public green space, paving, urban furniture and traffic space for both vehicles and pedestrians, so as to create a distinctive and user-friendly urban public space. The communities within Guangfa Area have been established for years. Before the renovation, due to its absence of overall management, the public open space in the area were disrupted by unregulated parking and facilities with messy greenery, which led to considerable inconvenience for citizens to move around the neighborhood and also impedes its business to flourish, resulting an unsatisfying urban environment quality. In order to optimize on-street parking as well as to separate the pedestrian and car traffic, the design team and traffic consultant re-planned the parking circulation and on-street parking. By adding a 3D parking structure with 378 spaces in the northwest corner of the site to relieve the parking stress in the area with better organized slow traffic, a slow-traffic-friendly urban vitality space that separates pedestrians from vehicles is created.

AUBE Conception aims to stitch and stimulate the public space in the area by focusing on the establishment of two brand new landscape axes. The Natural Energy Axis provides an ecological urban block that fosters a multi-functional place to increase popularity and initiate vitality. The design preserves the existing plants with good conditions, adds more spaces for leisure and activities under the tree canopies, supplements the hard-paving zone with featured flowering trees and rain gardens, integrates the green ecological concept and sponge city ecological functions, and therefore achieves the goal of crowds gathering, urban block value promotion and energy enhancement. The Communal Living Axis offers a stage for neighborhood communication, where a rich range of functional spaces, including children’s playground, leisure pavilion, wellness garden and sports venues for all ages of the junior, the elder and the young, are laid out to form a public place with health care and social care.

▼自然活力轴，natural energy axis  © 曾天培

▼休憩亭廊，leisure pavilion © 曾天培