“It’s a place I pass every time on the way to and from the airport—a quiet insert along the river’s edge, like a footnote to the city, quietly witnessing Hangzhou as it moves through time.”
— Meng Fanhao

At the turning point where Hangzhou shifts from its “West Lake Era” to the “Embrace-the-River 3.0” phase, Greentown New Times Cover anchors the foot of the Qianjiang Third Bridge, directly adjoining the CBD core of Qianjiang New Town. As the final puzzle piece along the city’s primary riverfront axis, the project doesn’t simply complete the edge—it redefines what this interface can become.

Like the banks of the Thames in London or the Hudson in New York, Hangzhou’s riverfront is both inherently scarce and spatially iconic. It is on such an embedded, high-stakes site that line+ co-founder and principal architect Meng Fanhao was invited to design Greentown New Times Cover—not merely as a building, but as a new face for the city. Through architecture, the project engages directly with Hangzhou’s shift into an era shaped by the Asian Games, metropolitan ambition, and urban modernization.

Part 01

From Commercial Offices to Spacious Apartments: A New Model for Urban Renewal.

Originally envisioned as a commercial tower, the project was later reprogrammed into a high-end residential development of large-scale apartments that merge landmark presence with elevated living. This typological shift marked not only a change in function but also a deeper recalibration of the urban waterfront—its public interface, symbolic weight, and capacity for domestic intimacy.

line+ responded with a design that transcends conventional residential logic, adopting a hybrid model drawn from global metropolitan typologies: a freestanding tower, a civic-scale façade, and panoramic views from upper levels. The resulting form is a contemporary observatory of the city—where architectural presence, residential quality, and urban symbolism converge.

Part 02

Originating from the tidal surge, rising by the riverbank, shaping a "flowing facade."

Evoking the tidal pulse of the Qiantang River, the façade distills its fluid rhythms into an expressive architectural composition—layered champagne-gold curves in aluminum flowing seamlessly alongside sweeping panes of glass.

The façade tightens at the base and loosens as it climbs—vertical lines pressed close together below, then gradually spaced apart above—echoing the grounded heft of the podium and the clarity of the sky-facing crown. This structural cadence is not ornamental: every curve, every upright, is keyed precisely to the spatial program and viewing axis within, composing a kinetic elevation that advances in tidal increments, as if the river itself were pushing the building upward in rhythmic surges.

Part 03

Crafted to perfection in every detail, setting a new benchmark for beauty in Hangzhou.

line+ approached material articulation with rigorous precision. Junctions between lines were resolved through seamless prefabricated curves, ensuring continuity across the façade. Every component was fabricated off-site and assembled on-site to exacting tolerances—down to the millimeter—so that no detail felt incidental, and no line broke rhythm.

Over the course of nearly a year, the team returned again and again to the site—testing over a dozen full-scale façade mock-ups, each assessed in shifting light and changing weather. Subtle differences in tone and proportion were studied not in abstraction but in context, until the final palette emerged not as a decision, but as a resolution.

Schuco’s bespoke triple-glazed system spans up to 3.6 meters wide, with openings as large as 2.4 meters—framing the river in full while sealing out the city’s noise. It creates a threshold where expansive views meet absolute quiet, allowing the residence to remain both open and inward.

A retractable balcony system is seamlessly embedded into the façade, preserving its clarity while unfolding into a 270-degree viewing chamber—an immersive threshold between interior life and the river beyond.

Part 04

More than a residence—a footnote to the city and the spirit of the times.

What began as a brief to convert an office tower has materialized into an urban landmark—one that gives tangible form to the idea of a city’s frontispiece. Within the dense, high-value riverfront context of Hangzhou, Greentown New Times Cover redefines the image of the large-format urban residence and charts a new course for contemporary high-rise living.

Amid the atmosphere of the Hangzhou Asian Games, the tower emerges with the quiet force of the tides—firmly situating itself as a spatial marker of this city and this moment in time.

Project Name: Greentown New Times Cover
Design Firm: line+ Studio
Chief Architect/Project Principal: Meng Fanhao
Design Team: Miao Chunle, Xing Shu, He Yaliang, Zhu Xiaojing, Liang Xi
Client: Hangzhou Zhonghou Real Estate Co., Ltd.
Interior Design: SLD Group
Landscape Design: AECOM
Construction Documentation: Hanjia Design Group Co.,Ltd.
Façade Design:Zhong Chuang Lian He Mu Qiang She Ji Yuan / Hanjia Design Group Co.,Ltd.
Lighting Design: Yaxing Optoelectronics
Location: Hangzhou, Zhejiang, China
Building Area: 23,947 sqm (above ground), 10,975 sqm (underground)
Design Period: 2019.03 – 2019.08
Construction Period: 2019.09 – 2023.10
Structure: Reinforced concrete frame
Materials: Aluminum panels, Glass
Photography: shiromio, line+