Qingdao Harborfront

Qingdao, China

Qingdao Harborfront occupies 73.2 hectares of former maritime/industrial uses in Downtown Qingdao, facing Jiaozhou Bay, and represents the anchor redevelopment for the city’s waterfront revitalization initiative. With the relocation of commercial port activities across the bay, antiquated docklands and shipyards throughout the Downtown are now poised to become new mixed-use communities that will re-unite residents with their waterfront. In addition to new commercial and residential development as well as new infrastructure, the project will include a multi-modal transit hub – a substantial contribution to the city-wide transportation network – that will be situated beneath a new public park overlooking the water.

Selected structures and conditions at the existing site will be transformed from “liabilities” to public assets. Examples include the former Dry Dock, to be preserved in its original location and converted into a water inlet and marina; a number of ship building cranes will be decommissioned and preserved as historical artifacts; and a number of warehouses will be renewed as waterside retail, restaurant and nightlife destinations. These important preservation and adaptive reuse efforts are a remembrance and celebration of the city’s maritime/industrial past, and bring a measure of historical continuity to the new neighborhoods of Qingdao Harborfront.

The expanse of Qingdao Harborfront encompasses three ‘Daos’ (‘Islands’): Zhongdao (Harborfront), Nandao (Bayside), and Tuandao (Oceanside). This plan unites three disparate sites into one cohesive and sustainable waterfront community, while establishing a distinctive character for each. Zhongdao and Nandao will comprise multiple mixed-use neighborhoods, while Tuandao will serve as a recreational, marine park facing the East China Sea. All three are linked by a continuous waterfront edge, a 30-meter setback zone that forms a generous pedestrian esplanade.