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2024 GFD 🏆 Awards

Gold Winner | “Soft Square” in Changshou Village | ZXD Architects

Changshou Village, located in Pingshan District, Shenzhen, is a quintessential ancient village in southern China with a history spanning several centuries.

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Gold 🏆 Winner
Global Future Design Awards 2024

“Soft Square” in Changshou Village
Culture Architecture

Firm
ZXD Architects

Architect/Designer
ZXD Architects

Design Team
Zhu Xiaodi, Ma Tiangang, Xiao Ruyi

Location
Shenzhen, China

Country
China

Photographer/Copyright
©Zhang Chao

Website
N/A

Instagram
N/A

During the agricultural era, the village’s central pond was a vital public space, serving multiple functions, including water supply, fire protection, landscape enhancement, and feng shui. However, in recent decades, urbanization has sharply impacted the decline of rural life, causing the pond to lose its original functions. It has since been converted into a fish pond, with hard shorelines and metal railings added.

In this project, the design team removed the pond’s existing fence and covered the water surface with a massive, low-ductility rope net set at the same level as the surrounding roads. This innovative approach creates a new public space where villagers and visitors can walk, run, sit, or lie down, encouraging interaction, play, and the enjoyment of views of the sky, clouds, and moon, as well as the fish and lotus flowers in the pond. This welcoming social space allows people to reconnect with a long-lost sense of community and joy, while the unique experience of walking on the rope net fosters a shared sense of equality and delight.

Seven circular concrete support structures effectively shorten the span of the rope net, enhancing its structural stability while reducing costs. Additional steel supports extending from these structures balance the tension of the rope net on the pond’s edge. The 120mm spacing between adjacent ropes ensures safety and comfort for users of all ages. A finer rope mesh placed below the primary net prevents objects from falling.

This “Soft Square” revitalizes the village’s public space, endowing it with cultural significance that transcends the agricultural era. It attracts a younger audience, breathes fresh vitality into the village, and embodies a spirit of openness and dynamism in the new era.