The firm of Norman Foster has won the competition to design Guangming Hub, a transport-oriented development on the high-speed rail link that connects Hong Kong, Shenzhen, and Guangzhou, with three new metro lines incorporated.

The latest technological tools are harnessed to make Guangming Hub work like a ‘smart city,’ integrated into the environment through lush greenery and maximizing landscape areas. A set of constraints that would influence urban growth in the area was fed into a software program developed by Foster + Partners. The resulting ideal masterplan was later further refined, and the transport links detailed.

The topography and the two major railway lines intersecting at the site have the effect of limiting movement, so the masterplan seeks to create a network of slow-moving autonomous vehicles, with stepped green terraces linking up with the surroundings.

A large commercial podium is set over the underground metro system and the inter-urban connection terminals. Office towers are thought out as gateways to the hub. Ground-level openings in these towers lead to the high-speed train station, and a bridge over this houses a new transport museum.

Pursuing the ‘sponge city’ concept, the design prioritizes sustainable urban drainage systems through the integration of landscape, permeable pavement, and bio-retention water elements.