Super Headquarters
Project Status: Competition
Project Year: 2019
Use: Master Plan
Area: 28 ha
Location: Shenhzen, China
Design: Mauricio Ceballos, FR-EE
Construction: Colab. FR-EE
Project developed for FR-EE Fernando Romero EnterprisE by Mauricio Ceballos and Team.
Context
The project emerges from a unique site condition defined by a sprawling bamboo forest, where nature establishes the foundational character of the entire development. This natural setting informed a radical organizational strategy: dedicating all underground space to essential infrastructure while preserving the surface realm for landscape and human interaction with the natural environment. This conceptual framework gave rise to the project's evocative name, "Below Nature, Above Infrastructure," which captures the fundamental inversion of typical development patterns where infrastructure often dominates the visible landscape. By burying the mechanical and circulatory systems that enable contemporary urban life, the project creates the conditions for nature to remain the primary experience at ground level.
The scope encompasses the development of a conceptual landscape proposal for the master plan of the Base Area, described as a superheadquarters serving as a major regional node. The intervention focuses on the Central Green Axis, spanning an extensive area of 326,000 square meters that provides the connective tissue for the entire development. This scale demands not merely aesthetic considerations but the integration of ecological, infrastructural, and cultural functions within a coherent spatial framework. The project must reconcile the presence of a major transport hub—where six metro lines converge—with aspirations for environmental sustainability, cultural programming, and climate adaptation. These competing demands require a design approach capable of layering multiple systems and uses while maintaining spatial clarity and experiential coherence across the vast site.
Design Principles
The organizational logic rests on a tripartite zoning strategy that distributes different functions across three main zones: the ecological zone, the transport zone, and the coastal zone. This clear territorial division allows each area to develop its own character and programming while contributing to the overall coherence of the Central Green Axis. The strategy acknowledges that a site of this scale and complexity cannot be treated as a singular gesture but must instead accommodate distinct spatial conditions and functional requirements. Each zone responds to its particular circumstances while maintaining connections to the broader landscape framework, creating a composition that is simultaneously varied and unified.
The ecological zone establishes the project's commitment to environmental education and landscape experience through the creation of a mountain designed to accommodate a botanical garden. This artificial topography serves multiple purposes: it provides dramatic spatial definition, creates microclimatic conditions suitable for diverse plant collections, and offers visitors an immersive educational journey through different ecological zones as they ascend. The mountain thus becomes both a symbolic statement about the project's environmental values and a functional device for sustainable education initiatives, transforming passive green space into active engagement with botanical knowledge and environmental stewardship.
At the heart of the composition lies the transport zone, where six metro lines converge to create a major regional node. Rather than allowing this infrastructural intensity to dominate the surface experience, the design employs a sunken plaza as an essential mediating element. This spatial device reconciles the underground nature of the metro system with the desire for accessible public space, creating a transitional realm that connects subterranean movement networks with the landscape above. The sunken plaza becomes a social condenser, a gathering space carved from the earth that maintains visual and physical connections to both the buried infrastructure and the surrounding green axis.
Along the coastal front, the design embraces adaptability and cultural programming through a series of cultural spaces paired with a floodable coastline responsive to environmental conditions. This approach acknowledges the dynamic nature of waterfront environments and the increasing importance of climate resilience in contemporary planning. Rather than imposing rigid structures that resist natural processes, the floodable coastline works with tidal and seasonal variations, creating landscapes that transform according to water levels and weather patterns. The cultural spaces activate this edge condition, bringing human activity into dialogue with natural forces and creating opportunities for programming that responds to the area's evolving needs and environmental conditions. This integration of infrastructure, culture, and ecological adaptation demonstrates a holistic understanding of contemporary landscape design, where resilience, functionality, and experience merge into a unified spatial proposition.