Woodhead have won a limited design competition for a new central business district and water park on a 6km square site in Shaoxing. Key elements in the success of the scheme were the design teams commitment to a collaborative design approach and genuine engagement with the Shaoxing community to generate the conceptual direction.

Working with the Shaoxing leadership and prominent local artists, the design team were able to capture some of the cultural spirit of Shaoxing and reinterpret the resultant forms and patterns into a contemporary urban planning and architectural response.

The conceptual foundation and overall layout of the scheme was established using a specially commissioned painting by Tian Yiping, Artist and President of the Zhejiang Arts Association. A calligraphy artist provided a series of characters that came from legends particular to Shaoxing.

During a period of high cultural development in 220AD, Shaoxing was known as the Heavenly Capital. The character for capital was used to inform the proportions of the city grid. The layout of the waterways and green spaces was based on characters from the story of the beautiful girl (Mei Nu). A balance between the planning forms was achieved using the forms generated by the masculine Wang character and the feminine Nu character.

Woodhead have also been engaged to produce conceptual designs for several major buildings to inform the architectural character of the new CBD.