Manni Group Design Award

At the center of the ring a huge round garden: this garden opens to the sky and aims to create a new biodiversity, une boule de nature, a green beating heart. Each passenger, approaching to Xi’An new train station will be pushed into a big forest so that trees, plants, water, will be the first elements that the visitors will see from the train. The garden gives the opportunity to experiment a modern Chinese garden, circled by the sinuous path of the roof. A mountain, a tangible element that rises from the earth to reach the sky, allowing men to do the same. From the triad Earth-Man-Sky comes an open building where millions of roads will intersect, millions of journeys will start and end.

Two simple curved lines, like the ceilings of ancient Chinese palaces, define a silhouette that will make the new train station a reference for the city of Xi’An and for the whole world. Beneath this unique roof, which breathes tradition and future, the program required for the competition develops. The centre of the programme, the train arrival and departure platforms, lies just below the fictitious intersection of the two forms, thus generating a dramatic space that will generate a sensory experience for the spectator.

The project, titled Chariot, was conceived after extensive research into the City of Xi’an and its rich historical and architectural heritage. The Dome concept for the train station derived from Emperor Qin Shi Huang’s bronze chariot and in particular the circular bronze parasol that protected the driver from the elements. The bronze chariot was discovered about 20 meters west of the mound of Qin Shi Huang Mausoleum. Emperor Qin Shi Huang united China and toured the newly united China five times, in what was once the world’s most majestic motorcade. Secondary elements like the arches represent shapes found in traditional Chinese architecture.

On the Detroit Riverwalk, a fine coppery dress appears on the docks and highlights the skyline. This steel and glass ribbon interacts with the public space. It is connected with the park by enveloping it and accompanying it to the heart of the project... This site is isolated between infrastructures and the TCF Center, this site does not seem to have a direct link with the city. However, located on the edge of the Detroit Riverwalk, this contact area, between the Capitol Park Historic District and the West Side Industrial, is located on the openning of one of Detroit’s main historical axes: The Washington Boulevard. The collision between Detroit Riverwalk Park and the historic axis creates a new urban polarity : the Garden Rift Tower. The Washington Boulevard breakthrough in the volume of the project connects the tower to the city and creates a large entrance to allow the landscape to flow into the central place of the project, where the various parts of the program are concentrated. This sparkling and dynamic shape is the symbol of Detroit’s renewal : A city that relies on its past to build its future.

The project aims to create an environment that acts as a bridge between diverse communities and is open to all social classes. We achieve this by combining high-end accommodations with public parks and education centers. This idea of balance impregnates every part of our project. We connect the river with piers while facing the city with towers. We embrace public transport and biking paths, while also supplying ample parking space. All of this is covered by nature to increase the quality of life and designed with a unique construction method to dramatically reduce the cost resulting in a healthy affordable environment. This way, we embrace the future without leaving anyone behind and we build this new Detroit together.

The site of the former Joe Louis Arena is located at Detroit Waterfront, merging the city skyline and boosting the city life in Detroit downtown. The proposed design is an extension and a piece of chain in the overall future waterfront development which is seen as an active living and business environment, being a continuation of the existing Renaissance Center located to the East along the waterfront line. As Detroit 1.0 evolved from a motor city at the turn of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, it has gone through a period of dark depression and came to being as Detroit 2.0 when the Renaissance Center was built to mark a new chapter in the city’s history. Here is Detroit 3.0 starting the new era of the coming changes in the urban context and further development. The design embodies a mixed-function project typical for such a central location of the redeveloping city, combining functional programs for hotel, residential and office buildings bringing locals and visitors to share the beautiful impression of the waterfront area. The design adapts to the city grid, opening towards Detroit River and creating connections with the city by laying out green coats directed along the waterfront and towards the city center. The green connections redefine the urban tissue, which aims to create a green and lively area attracting newcomers. The green carpets spread around the concrete jungle of the neighborhood, covering the adjacent parking site and the rooftop of TCF Center.