Architect’s Guide to Shenzhen: 30 Must-See Buildings and Designs

Name for entries: The 14th Architizer A+Awards celebrates structure’s new period of craft. For early chicken pricing, submit by October thirty first.  

As soon as a small fishing village on the Pearl River Delta, Shenzhen has reworked into one of many world’s most progressive city laboratories — a metropolis the place structure operates at an virtually unimaginable scale and velocity. As China’s first Particular Financial Zone, it grew to become a testing floor for contemporary urbanization and technology-driven progress, evolving right into a metropolis of greater than 17 million residents in simply 4 many years. Right this moment, it anchors the Larger Bay Space — an unlimited financial and cultural hub linking Hong Kong, Macau, Zhuhai, Guangzhou and different southern Chinese language cities — the place the boundaries between structure, infrastructure, and panorama are regularly redrawn.

The town’s constructed atmosphere displays a outstanding vary — from monumental cultural facilities and elevated parks to delicate timber bridges and community-scale initiatives that reinterpret custom for a brand new era. For architects visiting Shenzhen, the expertise extends far past town limits. The Larger Bay Space presents entry to a few of China’s most compelling architectural works, from parametric airport terminals and ecological waterfronts to adaptive reuse initiatives that revive industrial heritage.

This information highlights must-see landmarks throughout Shenzhen and its neighboring cities, providing perception into the spatial methods and materials realities driving some of the dynamic architectural areas on the earth.

Hengqin Tradition and Artwork Complicated

By Yunchao Xu Atelier Apeiron, Xiangzhou, Zhuhai, China

Jury Winner, Gallery & Exhibition Area | Finalist, Cultural & Expo Heart, Structure +Glass, thirteenth Architizer A+Awards

Framed between residential towers and an city park, this huge cultural complicated redefines density by way of a technique of “void,” carving monumental arched areas that invite public life and daylight deep inside. Three inverted catenary halls — for data, efficiency, and exhibition — anchor the constructing’s porous base, their wood-lined vaults glowing like lanterns throughout the park at night time.

Architect’s Element: A curved skyline and cascading inexperienced terraces host rooftop gardens and occasion platforms, whereas the operable skylight system and rainwater-harvesting roofs exemplify a climate-responsive strategy to large-scale civic design.

Overland’s Headquarters Showroom for the New Earthism Collection

By AD ARCHITECTURE, Foshan, China

Jury Winner, Structure +Branding, thirteenth Architizer A+Awards

Designed as a luminous runway for materials and kind, this 9,150-square-foot (850-square-meter) showroom reinterprets the tile gallery as a spatial narrative of sunshine. Sintered stone surfaces, mirrored planes, and wood-grille ceilings create an environment that merges precision with serenity, celebrating the tactile and visible essence of Overland’s new Earthism Collection.

Architect’s Element: Cross-shaped show buildings body the merchandise as sculptural focal factors, whereas subtle mild, mirrored flooring, and rhythmic symmetry evoke the interaction between earth, structure, and notion.

The Vessel of Mild and Nature —Public Rest room at Shenzhen Backyard Expo Park

By REFORM, Shenzhen, China

Particular Point out, Authorities & Civic Buildings, thirteenth Architizer A+Awards

Set amid bamboo groves and sloping terrain, this sculptural restroom is not like any public amenity you’ve ever seen. A rhythmic composition of 19 staggered partitions weaves round present bushes, with arched openings and frosted glass bricks that introduce filtered mild and cross-ventilation, reworking the house into a relaxed, gallery-like retreat throughout the park.

Architect’s Element: Every wall subtly shifts to protect mature bushes, whereas skylights and open joints promote pure airflow and daylighting — a chic mannequin for Shenzhen’s ongoing “Rest room Revolution.”

Qiaochengbei Park Customer Heart

By Atelier XI, Shenzhen, China

Finalist, Structure +Metallic, thirteenth Architizer A+Awards

Embedded inside a dense city forest, the Qiaochengbei Park Customer Heart integrates two low-slung buildings that weave by way of present bushes with minimal disruption. The east pavilion curves gently between trunks, whereas the west construction’s trapezoidal volumes anchor the panorama like sculptural “steel henges,” forming a village-like ensemble for relaxation and refreshment.

Architect’s Element: Clad in weathering metal and shaded by perforated louvers, the naturally ventilated buildings make use of passive cooling, inexperienced roofs, and earth sheltering to harmonize structure and ecology.

Pavilion of Pastel Shadows on the Shiyaling Park

By Studio 10, Shenzhen, China

Particular Point out, Pavilions, thirteenth Architizer A+Awards

Located between Shiyaling Mountain and Dafen Oil Portray Village, this pavilion transforms a utilitarian restroom right into a poetic resting place for hikers and athletes. Its cover and clustered volumes weave round six preserved bushes, creating tranquil areas dappled with filtered mild and pure air flow.

Architect’s Element: The pastel-toned façades and perforated roofs reinterpret the shifting shadows of the forest, mixing artwork and ecology whereas sustaining the fragile stability between construction and panorama.

FW JI·Lined Bridge on Aqueduct

By IARA, Huangshan, China

Widespread Alternative Winner, Structure +Small Initiatives, twelfth Architizer A+Awards

Remodeling an deserted Nineteen Sixties aqueduct right into a communal lined bridge, this venture breathes new life into the fading rural cloth of Fengwu Village. Light-weight timber development overlays the prevailing concrete construction, preserving its moss-covered patina whereas offering villagers with a shaded, ventilated gathering house overlooking the river.

Architect’s Element: The bridge’s X-frame construction is constructed from prefabricated cross-laminated timber (CLT), assembled fully by hand with out heavy equipment, merging conventional craftsmanship with up to date sustainable engineering.

Marisfrolg Trend Campus

By Structure van Brandenburg, Shenzhen, China

Widespread Alternative Winner, Combined Use (L>25,000 sq ft), twelfth Architizer A+Awards

Commissioned by Marisfrolg Trend Attire founders Ms. Zhu Chongyun and Mr. Yao Jianhua, this 47-acre (19-hectare) campus merges architectural craft with nature right into a sculptural kind resembling a chicken in flight. Double-curvature geometries unify construction and façade, making a fluid composition that homes design studios, manufacturing amenities, a boutique resort, and exhibition areas.

Architect’s Element: Constructed over 14 years, the headquarters incorporates 80% recycled supplies in its exterior cladding, together with discarded ceramics, marble offcuts, recycled brick and glass slag.

Marisfrolg Showroom

By Zaha Hadid Architects, Shenzhen, China

Particular Point out, Showrooms, thirteenth Architizer A+Awards

On the middle of Marisfrolg Trend Group’s Shenzhen campus, ZHA’s showroom interprets the model’s precision tailoring into fluid, material-rich interiors crafted from recycled aggregates. The flowing format hyperlinks vogue, artwork, and structure by way of sculptural partitions and customized furnishings.

Architect’s Element: Flooring of crushed glass and quartz and GRG partitions molded from recyclable wax spotlight ZHA’s dedication to craft, and a nod in the direction of round design.

Jiulongfeng Youngsters’s Studying Heart for Conservation

By LUO studio, Huangshan, China

Widespread Alternative Winner, Structure +Pleasure, twelfth Architizer A+Awards

Nestled on the foot of Jiulongfeng Nature Reserve, this studying middle reinvigorates rural life by way of structure that fuses schooling with heritage. Renovated from a easy longhouse utilizing conventional Huizhou carpentry, the timber-framed construction was rebuilt by native grasp craftsmen with fir wooden sourced from the encircling forests. At its coronary heart, a cabin-like play pavilion introduces a sculptural, up to date counterpoint — a fluid timber kind fully constructed by villagers. The venture exemplifies cooperative design, the place builders, designers, and residents work aspect by aspect to maintain native traditions whereas fostering a nurturing atmosphere for kids.

Architect’s Element: Conventional mortise-and-tenon carpentry strategies had been preserved all through the renovation, making certain that every joint, beam, and roof kind expresses the craft of Huizhou’s architectural heritage.

New Life for Previous Village – Huizhou Lanmen Village Renovation Mission

By REDe Architects, Huizhou, China

Widespread Alternative Winner, Structure +Renovation, twelfth Architizer A+Awards

Set amid the mountains, this revitalization venture transforms a historic settlement right into a rural cultural and tourism complicated. Divided into 4 zones — restored village dwellings, gardens, riverfront exercise areas and agricultural terraces — the plan integrates hospitality and group areas with panorama design, placing forth a lovely mannequin for future rural dwelling. Previous stone partitions and timber buildings are rigorously preserved and interwoven with new, energy-efficient additions, together with roofs fitted with photovoltaic tiles. Elevated metal walkways hint the course of the stream beneath, whereas courtyards and gardens invite company to expertise the rhythms of rural life in concord with nature.

Architect’s Element: Adaptive reuse merges with passive design — reused masonry and photo voltaic roofs scale back embodied vitality whereas sustaining the tactile authenticity of the village’s heritage cloth.

Zhuhai Jinwan Civic Artwork Centre

By Zaha Hadid Architects, Zhuhai, China

Finalist, Cultural & Expo Facilities, twelfth Architizer A+Awards

Anchoring Zhuhai’s Aviation New Metropolis, the Zhuhai Jinwan Civic Artwork Centre unites a performing arts venue, science centre and artwork museum beneath a sculptural metal cover impressed by migratory flight. The modular, latticed roofs filter daylight throughout interconnected plazas and bridges that hyperlink the 4 wings over ZhongXin Lake. Combining prefabricated development, sponge-city landscaping and clever vitality programs, the complicated displays a regional shift towards sustainable cultural infrastructure.

Architect’s Element: The hovering roof cover, composed of modular metal shells supported by simply 22 columns, unifies the distinct cultural venues in a single fluid composition.

Shenzhen Metro Line 16

By Vantree Design, Shenzhen, China

Finalist, Transportation Interiors, twelfth Architizer A+Awards

Extending 18 miles (29 kilometers) throughout town, Shenzhen Metro Line 16 reimagines public transit as a cultural and civic expertise rooted within the area’s Hakka heritage. Every station interprets the overarching theme of “Sunshine + Residence” by way of distinctive spatial expressions that fuse pure mild, native supplies, and social gathering areas. Vantree Design’s idea transforms the community right into a dwelling museum of regional id — a collection of luminous thresholds connecting Shenzhen’s modernity with its ancestral tradition.

Architect’s Element: Impressed by Hakka dwellings, vaulted canopies and heat, earth-toned supplies evoke communal courtyards, making every station each a transit hub and a civic sanctuary.

Kingway Brewery Renovation

By URBANUS, Shenzhen, China

Finalist, Structure +Adaptive Reuse, twelfth Architizer A+Awards

URBANUS transforms Shenzhen’s historic Kingway Brewery right into a cultural campus that fuses industrial reminiscence with up to date creativity. As soon as a hub of manufacturing for town’s most beloved beer, the 28.6-acre (11.6-hectare) complicated now serves as a public platform for artwork, exhibition, and group life. Intervening with a “plug-in” technique, the architects reactivated scattered industrial remnants — from fermentation tanks to wastewater swimming pools — into phases for brand new city experiences. The ensuing sequence of courtyards, galleries and elevated walkways reveals the tactile historical past of trade whereas opening it to public creativeness.

Architect’s Element: The renovation preserves 33 chrome steel fermentation tanks, reworking them into sculptural parts framing auditoriums, bars and rooftop theaters — a robust expression of Shenzhen’s evolving city id.

Shenzhen Reef Library

By Wildurban Architects, Shenzhen, China

Finalist, Libraries, twelfth Architizer A+Awards

Tucked throughout the dense seaside village of Jiaochangwei, the Shenzhen Reef Library reclaims a fraction of shoreline from overdevelopment, creating a relaxed civic refuge impressed by native geology. Fashioned from crimson volcanic reef stone, its thick partitions and carved arches evoke a sculpted monolith, whereas a luminous white ebook tower contrasts with the mass beneath. The constructing’s recessed courtyards and shifting geometries create layered thresholds between the road, studying rooms, and sea views — a choreography of retreat and revelation.

Architect’s Element: The crimson volcanic stone used all through the construction roots the venture in Dapeng Peninsula’s geology.

Shenzhen Lotus Water Tradition Base: Panorama Design for Honghu Park Water Purification Station

By NODE Structure & Urbanism, Shenzhen, China

Jury Winner, Public Parks & Inexperienced Area, eleventh A+Awards

Beneath a lotus-filled park in Luohu District, the Honghu Water Purification Plant hides an unlimited infrastructural system beneath a civic panorama. NODE reworked the power’s floor right into a public backyard that merges cultural heritage with ecological design, drawing from Lingnan backyard typologies — pagodas, pavilions and corridors — reinterpreted in up to date supplies. Air flow shafts double as walkable landmarks, together with a birdwatching tower and lotus viewing pavilion, turning engineering constraints into alternatives for group engagement.

Architect’s Element: The venture pioneers the “publicization of infrastructure,” fusing buried purification programs with public house to disclose water’s important function in Shenzhen’s city life.

Qianhai’s Guiwan Park

By Subject Operations, Shenzhen, China

Jury Winner, Structure +City Transformation | Finalist, Public Parks & Inexperienced Area, eleventh Architizer A+Awards

Anchoring Qianhai Water Metropolis, Guiwan Park transforms coastal infrastructure right into a dwelling ecosystem. Designed because the district’s central “water finger,” the park merges stormwater administration (flood management) with habitat restoration with a medley of mangrove forests, wetland and tidal corridors. Its layered panorama weaves recreation and ecology collectively, redefining the city park as each civic and environmental infrastructure.

Architect’s Element: The park integrates 12.6 acres (5.1 hectares) of mangroves and 4.4 acres (1.8 hectares) of freshwater wetlands, turning flood resilience right into a every day, walkable expertise of nature within the metropolis.

OCT Bao’an OH BAY

By LAGUARDA.LOW ARCHITECTS, Shenzhen, China

Widespread Alternative Winner, City & Masterplan, eleventh Architizer A+Awards

Remodeling 128 acres (51.7 hectares) in Bao’an District, OCT Central District Park reimagines city life across the panorama. The park’s community of promenades, bridges and wetlands connects cultural and leisure city parts to industrial hubs, merging ecological restoration with civic vitality. Performing as Shenzhen’s new “inexperienced coronary heart,” it fuses water programs, plazas, and gardens right into a dwelling framework for group and biodiversity.

Architect’s Element: The park’s design integrates superior stormwater filtration and renewable vitality programs, positioning panorama infrastructure as each a civic amenity and a mannequin for sustainable city progress.

B3

By RooMoo Design Studio, Shenzhen, China

Finalist, Eating places (S<1000 sq ft), eleventh Architizer A+Awards

Within the coronary heart of Coco Park, B3 Bistro interprets the passage of time into kind, texture, and lightweight. Three “waves” — of steel, mirror and movement — outline the house, reworking ceiling, façade, and environment right into a choreography of reflection. Tough brick partitions evoke geological strata, whereas polished metal and LED-lit surfaces carry a recent rhythm to the eating expertise.

Architect’s Element: Every stainless-steel “wave” references one of many model’s three namesakes — brunch, bistro, bar — fusing temporal metaphor with materials craft to create a eating atmosphere that evolves over time.

The Water Drop Library

By He Wei Studio／3andwich Design, Huizhou, China

Particular Point out, Libraries, eleventh Architizer A+Awards

Perched on a hill overlooking the South China Sea, this 4,843-square-foot (450-square-meter) library redefines the typology as a clear, community-oriented landmark. Its bowl-shaped roof kinds a reflecting pool that merges sky, water, and sea, whereas the studying areas beneath alternate between darkish, enclosed corridors and luminous rooms that open again to the horizon.

Architect’s Element: The round roof pool creates a meditative “inverted sea,” permitting guests to stroll on water whereas glimpsing the actual shoreline past — a poetic dialogue between structure and panorama.

Intercity Bar

By Vermilion Zhou Design Group, Shenzhen, China

Particular Point out, Bars & Wineries, eleventh Architizer A+Awards

Constructed as a part of OCT’s rural revitalization initiative, this arched timber bridge reconnects the fishing villages of Gulou by way of each craft and continuity. Combining prefabricated precision with hand meeting, its lined walkway honors southern China’s carpentry traditions whereas serving as a ceremonial threshold between the resort’s industrial and leisure districts.

Architect’s Element: Three curved glulam beams, every spanning 82 toes (25 meters), kind the bridge’s main construction — a contemporary reinterpretation of historic lined bridges designed to maintain timber dry and endure the subtropical rains of the Pearl River Delta.

Timber Bridge in Gulou Waterfront

By LUO studio, Jiangmen, China

Jury Winner, Structure +Wooden, tenth Architizer A+Awards

Constructed as a part of OCT’s rural revitalization initiative, this arched timber bridge reconnects the fishing villages of Gulou by way of each craft and continuity. Combining prefabricated precision with hand meeting, its lined walkway honors southern China’s carpentry traditions whereas serving as a ceremonial threshold between the resort’s industrial and leisure districts.

Architect’s Element: Three curved glulam beams, every spanning 82 toes (25 meters), kind the bridge’s main construction — a contemporary reinterpretation of historic lined bridges designed to maintain timber dry and endure the subtropical rains of the Pearl River Delta.

Yantian 19.5km Waterfront Boardwalk

By eLandscript, Shenzhen, China

Finalist, City & Masterplan, tenth Architizer A+Awards

Stretching 15.5 miles (19.5 kilometers) alongside Shenzhen’s japanese coast, the Yantian Waterfront Boardwalk reconnects metropolis and sea within the wake of Hurricane Mangkhut. The redesigned promenade hyperlinks seashores and seafood markets by way of resilient infrastructure that doubles as public realm — a steady, climate-conscious thread binding every day life to the rhythms of the ocean.

Architect’s Element: Elevated pathways and adaptive panorama detailing mitigate storm surges, reworking catastrophe restoration right into a mannequin of coastal resilience and concrete renewal.

‘In direction of Nature, In direction of You’ XLXN Life-style Artwork Area

By XIANGLIN, Guangzhou, China

Particular Point out, Gallery & Exhibition Areas, tenth Architizer A+Awards

Situated in Panyu, a cradle of Lingnan tradition, XLXN Life-style Artwork Area reinterprets native heritage by way of a collection of flowing arches and dry-garden “rivers.” Designed as a dwelling, adaptable inside, the venture transforms recycled brick, wooden, and cement right into a tactile atmosphere that invitations guests to maneuver, relaxation, and turn into a part of the artwork itself.

Architect’s Element: The arches fluctuate in peak and span to border totally different sensory experiences — a spatial rhythm echoing the meandering waterways of Panyu’s historic panorama.

He Artwork Museum

By Tadao Ando Architect & Associates, Foshan, China

Widespread Alternative Winner, Museum; Finalist, Structure +Concrete, Structure +Stairs, ninth Architizer A+Awards | Finalist, Museum, Structure +Stairs, eighth Architizer A+Awards

Carved from mild and concrete, the He Artwork Museum embodies Tadao Ando’s pursuit of “dynamic geometry.” 4 overlapping round volumes ripple outward, housing luminous galleries centered world wide’s solely double-helix concrete staircase — a sculptural core that defines the customer’s journey by way of house and time.

Architect’s Element: Every of the staircase’s 45 steps differs subtly in width and kind, a feat of precision casting that transforms concrete right into a meditative choreography of motion and craft.

Nankun Thriller Village Artwork restaurant

By Wildurban Architects, Guangzhou, China

Finalist, Eating places (L>1,000 sq ft), ninth Architizer A+Awards

Nestled in a forested valley 2,625 toes (800 meters) above sea degree, this new pavilion reactivates a cluster of Nineteen Nineties brick-and-wood villas in Nankun Mountain Nationwide Forest Park. Designed as a versatile cultural hub, the construction hosts exhibitions, model occasions, and gatherings whereas sustaining the location’s delicate stability between structure and panorama.

Architect’s Element: Elevated barely above the bottom airplane, the constructing’s glass-and-timber quantity mirrors the encircling cover, creating the feeling of floating throughout the forest.

YAO Idea Restaurant

By AAN Architects, Shenzhen, China

Finalist, Eating places (S<1000 sq ft), ninth Architizer A+Awards

Suspended like an unlimited fishing internet, the undulating ceiling of YAO Idea Restaurant redefines the connection between intimacy and openness in eating. The continual curvilinear construction descends to kind delicate partitions, reworking the room right into a dynamic panorama of motion, laughter, and shared expertise.

Architect’s Element: Crafted from flowing fiberglass panels, the “internet” merges lighting, construction and sculpture — a single steady floor that turns spatial separation right into a efficiency of connection.

Longgang Gradual-Visitors System: 9 Rising Metropolis Bridges

By FCHA, Shenzhen, China

Finalist, Transportation Infrastructure, ninth Architizer A+Awards

Conceived as a “9 Dragons” community weaving by way of town, this technique of 9 elevated walkways and weatherproof corridors reconnects Shenzhen’s Longgang district in three dimensions. Linking transit hubs, residential zones, and industrial facilities, the bridges twist, dip and prolong with sculptural agility, reworking infrastructure into city choreography.

Architect’s Element: Every bridge sort adapts its kind to website situations — some spiraling round intersections, others gliding above plazas — all sharing a steady metal logic impressed by the dragon’s sinuous motion.

UABB Longgang Exhibition Corridor

By Atelier XI, Shenzhen, China

Finalist, Pop Ups & Short-term | Finalist, Structure +Mild, ninth Architizer A+Awards

Commissioned simply three months earlier than opening, this adaptive reuse venture reworked an unlimited, disused air-conditioner manufacturing unit right into a luminous exhibition house chronicling Shenzhen’s city progress. A 820-foot (250-meter) translucent membrane wall — conceived as a “Folded Time-Mild-Line” — cuts by way of the economic corridor, making a glowing chronological promenade that bridges town’s manufacturing previous with its cultural current.

Architect’s Element: Produced from reasonably priced tensile membrane materials, the sunshine wall was fabricated and put in in beneath 20 days, its diaphanous floor turning the relics of trade right into a dwelling canvas of illumination.

Monetary Metropolis Group Heart

By Lacime Architect, Suzhou, China

Finalist, Structure +Group, eighth Architizer A+Awards

Set beside the Suzhou Canal, this cultural landmark reinterprets town’s poetic backyard custom by way of a recent lens, reworking the Taihu stone into structure. Its twisting metal construction and layered façades evoke the misty abstraction of Jiangnan landscapes, making a civic house that blurs boundaries between previous and current, stable and void.

Architect’s Element: The double-skin façade — a parametric lattice suspended earlier than the curtain wall — filters daylight like silk, recalling Suzhou’s heritage of weaving and water.

Shenzhen Bao’an Worldwide Airport, Terminal 3

By Massimiliano and Doriana Fuksas, Shenzhen, China

Jury & Widespread Alternative Winner, Airports, 2nd Architizer A+Awards

Conceived as an unlimited, dwelling organism, Terminal 3 evokes the sinuous type of a manta ray in movement — a sculptural, aerodynamic physique that captures the dynamism of flight. Its double-layered honeycomb pores and skin floods the mile-long inside with daylight, dissolving the boundary between construction and environment whereas symbolizing Shenzhen’s fusion of nature and expertise.

Architect’s Element: The terminal’s stainless-steel “bushes” function each air diffusers and visible anchors, reworking important infrastructure into monumental inside sculpture that channels the logic of pure kinds.

Name for entries: The 14th Architizer A+Awards celebrates structure’s new period of craft. For early chicken pricing, submit by October thirty first.