The masterplan for a new educational district in a new city being built north of Weifang, China rethinks urban density within the new Chinese city by combining a campus model based on density and an urban street wall with constructed ecosystems that nourish regional flora and fauna. Located along the edge of the Bailang River where it branches off into the Laizhou Bay, the 8,000,000 square meter site will house up to seven complete university campuses together with a dynamic mixed–use hub designed to encourage companies to benefit from the synergy of the proximate universities. The masterplan counters the typical campus planning model in China of low-density buildings spread across vast open landscapes by concentrating density in the western edge of the site and creating a series of east-west campus bands. These bands become less dense as they move towards the river’s edge where they open up to reveal a gradient of shoreline ecologies. At the river’s edge, pockets of land are excavated between the bands. The excavated soil is then re-used in the site as fill to level the topography. The excavated pockets between the bands allow the river to flow and generate wetlands that will restore native habitat and support wildlife. Restored s alt ponds, salt marshes, and highlands re-introduce complexity into the urban landscape.
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