As the year winds down in this season of reflection and renewal, ZDG Design caps a remarkable year with a series of award-winning projects, recognized both domestically and internationally. Projects including the Shenzhen Bay Cultural Spine-Pedestrian Corridor System Design, the Under-Bridge Space Renewal and Slow Traffic Continuity Project for the Outer Ring Expressway (Bao'an Section), the Longquan City "Urban Balcony" Architecture and Landscape Project, the Xiaogan West Red Maple Service Area Master Planning, and the Qijiang Road Project (East Bank—from Guang'ao Expressway to Hengfa Street)—have been honored with a total of eight domestic and international awards this year. These accolades include the Global Future Design Awards Gold Winner 2025, Asia Urban Renewal Awards (Silver Award & Honored Award), the GRA Awards (Outstanding Ecological Spatial Landscape Award & Silver Award), 2025 Global Vision International Design Award Professional Group/ Silver Award, and the Guangdong Provincial Civil Engineering Zhan Tianyou Hometown Cup Award.

Click to see the winner list of 2025 AURA Urban Renewal Awards:

https://www.far2000.cn/huodongbaodao/20250908/3263.html

Click to see the winner list of 2025 AURA Urban Renewal Awards:

https://www.far2000.cn/huodongbaodao/20250908/3263.html

Click to see the winner list of 2025 GRA Awards:

https://graawards.cn/vertical-projects/

Click to see the winner list of Guangdong Provincial Civil Engineering Zhan Tianyou Hometown Cup Award

https://www.gdbuild.com.cn/article/2138340.html?shId=624

Shenzhen Bay Cultural Spine-Pedestrian Corridor System Design

Global Future Design Award – Infrastructure (Under Construction) -Gold Winner | GRA Awards Outstanding Ecological Spatial Landscape Award

The Shenzhen Bay Cultural Spine-Pedestrian Corridor System is located in Houhai Center, Nanshan District, forming an integral part of the BC Zone of Shenzhen Bay Cultural Square. Spanning approximately 2 kilometers, it serves as a key three-dimensional slow-moving hub in the Houhai area.

Strategically positioned within a “core cultural facility belt in a high-density urban environment,” the bridge embodies an organic structural language and a context-sensitive design approach. Through a thoughtful selection of materials that balance aesthetics and innovation, along with a lightweight yet efficient structural system, it creates an organically spreading urban green vein. This green corridor seamlessly connects multiple key commercial and cultural landmarks, including Coastal City, the first and second phases of MIXC Shenzhen Bay, and Shenzhen Bay Cultural Square itself.

By providing efficient vertical connectivity across the urban fabric, this “Urban Green Vein” not only enhances pedestrian mobility but also enriches the visual quality of the cityscape. It adds a distinct humanistic character to Shenzhen Bay Cultural Square, reflecting a vision where design and technology converge.

The project was completed and open to public in October 2025.

The Under-Bridge Space Renewal and Slow Traffic Continuity Project for the Outer Ring Expressway (Bao'an Section)

       AURA Urban Renewal Awards – Infrastructure Regeneration Silver Award |Landscape  and City Regeneration Honored Award

Over the past few decades, Shenzhen has undergone rapid urbanization. While gray transportation infrastructure has played a functional role, it has also fragmented urban space to some extent. The West Line project actively aligns with Shenzhen's "Mountain-Sea City Integration" spatial plan. Through the creative reactivation of underutilized spaces beneath urban expressways, it transforms gray infrastructure sites into vibrant, continuous public areas. The project successfully mends 14 fragmented sections, establishing a seamless corridor beneath the expressway that links mountains, rivers, and the sea. Collaborative efforts among government bodies, street communities, and the design team ensured both feasibility and responsiveness to local needs, resulting in a 4.6-kilometer sports corridor that reunites divided spaces, enhances equitable accessibility, and serves as a new artery fueling urban renewal in Bao'an's Western Center District.

The project envisions an all-ages sports space guided by the concept of "blue-green as the base, viaducts as the corridor." Along the route, tailored spaces cater to the preferences of children, youth, and seniors, meeting diverse exercise needs, creating unique identities for each section. By implementing three continuous pathways beneath the expressway—comprising pedestrian, cycling, and running lanes, along with auxiliary trails—the project establishes diverse, convenient, and connected slow-traffic experiences, forming an integrated mountain-sea slow-traffic network.

The project is now under construction. It is pretended to be open in January 2026.

Xiaogan West Red Maple Service Area

      Global Future Design Award – Urban Design (Under Construction) -Gold Winner

Xiaogan West Red Maple Service Area is located in Dougang Town, Xiaogan City. It sits along the Xiao-Han-Ying Expressway which is an important part of the Wuhan Metropolitan Ring Road. The service area is radiated by Wuhan metropolitan that is 75km away from Wuhan city center. The service area enjoys an excellent landscape resource. It is surrounded by water landscape as well as a dense red maple forest on the northern part.

With the new development concept of "Highway + Tourism" - the integration of transportation and tourism, Xiaogan West Service Area will serve as the engine of the area, attracting the large passenger flow of Wuhan metropolitan, enhancing the Red Maple Forest branding, and constructing ecological leisure and tourism complexes. Xiaogan West Service Area will also be the anchor point for the surrounding villages, seedling bases, and agricultural sites. It will be a new model for rural revitalization in China.

The scheme introduces maple forests into the park, stimulates tourists' interest in exploration, and creates an ecotourism complex with the theme of red maple characteristics. The short-term development will be the Xiaogan West-Red Maple Service Area and Maple Paradise. In the long term, it will develop countryside activities to the surrounding villages, farmland and eco-agricultural bases, and finally realize a tourism complex integrating ecological leisure and rural revitalization.

Xiaogan West Red Maple Service Area Master Planning

GRA Silver Award | 2025 Global Vision International Design Award Professional Group/ Silver Award

Longquan is a city of millennial heritage, where nature and culture shine together, tradition and modernity co-evolve. This project is situated along a one-kilometer waterfront belt between Longquan Stream and the Shuinan Future Community. Confronted with the fragmentation caused by an approximate three-meter __RR__ difference and the barrier posed by the existing embankment, we have adopted the theme of "Urban Balcony" to create a public space that embodies cultural confidence, ecological sustainability, and a lively, water-friendly environment—addressing the city's aspiration for youth-oriented waterfront spaces.

At the heart of the project stands a cultural landmark building, serving as the visual and functional core of the "Urban Balcony" system. The structure consists of a base integrated into the embankment and a main exhibition space floating above it. The base, adapting to the topographic elevation change, accommodates urban amenities such as dining areas and restrooms, shaping a dynamic public interface. It is our hope that the Longquan Urban Balcony will become a generator of public activities—connecting city and nature, culture and ecology, youth and the future—integrating seamlessly into local life and infusing this profound city with continuous vitality and imagination.