Urban Lifestyles Changing from the Station

  The client is the Greenland Group, one of China’s top real estate companies. Along with the company name, the giant green slope is called the “Urban Firm” In walking around the Urban Firm, station users, bus terminal users and office workers can closely experience the greenery of nature even within their regular urban lifestyles. There is no need to go out and take therapeutic walks in the forest on the weekends.
  An important goal for the client planning this facility was to draw large numbers of people and ensure profitability. As stated previously, we responded to this goal in a manner that varies from traditional methods. There were two broad points to the proposal.

  The first is the Urban Firm, introduced up to this point. Given that city is being densely redeveloped and we could not build the facility directly above the tracks, we considered from the first stages of planning to make the area above the tracks into a park to be loved by the city residents. As we continued our investigations, we came upon the idea of unifying with nature not only the area above the tracks but the entire facility. We wondered if this would make it seem as if the stores were in an area of greenery. This is how the Great Greenland was born. We aimed to have visitors come to this town with the same sensations as visiting a real park.
  The second point is Transit Oriented Development (TOD), a specialty of Nikken Sekkei. This is a development concept that promotes the use of public transportation. It is also called “Station and Town Unified Development.” It is a way of thinking that calls for the building of facilities that tie the town to the station, with the station taking the lead role.

  The client understood the value of this Great Greenland and TOD-centered proposal. As the Urban Firm is a rooftop green space, it does not cut into the profit base. Our goal was to create a richness of life not seen in previous developments, and to do so upon ensuring profitability.
  Visiting the site one of course sees office workers and people using the subways and buses. The area is also bustling with many people taking their dogs for a walk and small children running on the Great Greenland. As evening approaches people living nearby gather and spend time there.
  I imagine everyone has grown tired of spaces closed off in boxes. I believe that through creating spaces constructed out of the Urban Firm and TOD concepts we have been able to point out a new sense of value- one in which people enjoy bustling, verdant towns.
  Today those of us living in Japan have come to expect urban development to add richness to our lives as a matter of course. Looking back on the history of development and growth, we can see a change toward that sense of values. We gained this sense of values over the course of our experience. We believe that to transmit this sense of values to the people of China as they realize rapid growth will assist in creating sustainable towns that will continue to be loved by the people well into the future. Our thinking in this regard is embedded in the Shanghai Greenland Center.