FOSHAN LINGNAN TIANDI MASTER PLAN

Foshan, the third largest city in Guangdong Province, is renowned as one of China’s leading centers of art and scholarship. It also is home to Foshan Zumiao, the 900-year-old Song Dynasty Ancestral Temple, which sits at the heart of Donghuali Old Town. Like other historic areas in the country, this district has been threatened by unremitting high-rise development. SOM’s plan identifies ways to conserve the ancient quarters while simultaneously creating a sustainable, modern central district able to accommodate growth. Shaped through a series of meetings with planners, developers, and city officials, the scheme proposes private development outside of the historic core. Guidelines establish density levels that could support a transit-oriented, mixed-use downtown while defraying the cost of preserving and restoring Old Town and its cherished temple. The plan outlines a range of sensitively scaled building heights, as well as walkable blocks to encourage pedestrian activity.