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The site was once an ecological, then a recreational, hotspot. It also sits on one of the city’s designated mountain-ocean corridors. Decades of land reclamation have progressively displaced the shoreline and coastal habitats. The project offers an opportunity to revive the site’s identity by unveiling its historic connection to the shoreline, a story invisible to the public.
Our approach translates this geological history into tangible experiences by restoring native habitats, improving the microclimate, introducing unique features echoing the site’s character, and providing diverse programs. The project aims to transform a generic commercial zone into an environmental storyteller, demonstrating how memories of a site foster public-commercial vitality in an urban retrofitting practice.
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Shekou Sea World, once an iconic commercial destination, has lost its uniqueness and popularity, along with the disconnection to its environmental assets. The design aims to revive the site by re-bridging the site to its context.
Spatially, enhanced pedestrian circulation activates the 800-meter mountain-sea corridor and turns the site into a dynamic hinge with site features responding to the mountain and sea.
Temporally, the project bridges historical and contemporary coastlines. Interactive wave fountains make invisible geological shifts tangible, bringing environmental consciousness into the commercial space.
Functionally, from environmentally-inspired motifs to interactive fountains, the place-making reignites the commercial vitality by celebrating the site’s unique characters.
The project takes a comprehensive approach to create a sustainable model of commercial landscape. Healthy existing trees are preserved and newly planted species restore native plant communities. Demolished paving at an existing parking lot is recycled as sub-base.
By synchronizing microclimate simulation with design progress, passive cooling was optimized. Site resilience was improved at the Beer Garden with an increase in permeable surfaces from 10% to 75%, including rain gardens that treat and detain runoff and feed water features.
Education on the impact of land reclamation is embedded in tactile coastline markers and marine species plaques, while both public workshops and revenue-generating events are accommodated in various flexible spaces, elevating adjacent property values.
Shekou Sea World reflects Shenzhen’s evolving relationship with its coastline. Once a waterfront below Nanshan Mountain, decades of land reclamation reshaped the shore, eroding the district’s appeal and commercial competitiveness. This project reconnects the site to its ecological and cultural roots by reviving the lost memory of the coast.
Phase1 includes two parts: a surgical upgrade of the Central Plaza with minimal intervention and a bold conversion of a parking lot into an urban oasis next to bars and restaurants. Both anchor the mountain-sea corridor linking Nanshan’s slopes to the sea.
Central Plaza
Given the high quality of existing elements, the design focused on targeted interventions. Concrete bands trace vanished coastlines with marine motifs. Ship-mast-inspired poles serve as multifunctional beacons. Sculpted benches echo rocks at the foothill, offering shaded lounge spaces.
Beer Garden
A former parking lot is now a public sequence culminating at the Minghua Ship, binding mountain, city, and sea. Permeability rises 65%, weaving ecological and commercial uses. Trees shade rock-shaped swings, while the lawn hosts summer festivals. Rainwater harvesting sustains wave fountains and irrigates native plants.
From crafted coastline markers to stormwater-fed fountains, the commercial spaces engage their ecological memory, fueling social vitality and property values. Here, sustainability is not an add-on, but the language through which the site reclaims its coastal identity.
This project is a manifestation for future projects integrating site vernacularity and environmental awareness with commercial uses. It has received positive feedback from both the client and public users. It attracts attention in multiple seminars and public events, including Thriving with the Sea: Academic Forum on Marine Planning by Shenzhen Planning and Natural Resources Bureau. In 2025, it is recognized by the local government as one of the best pocket parks in Shenzhen.
At Sasaki, we believe defining the future of place must be a collective, contextual, and values-driven exercise. We all have a stake in this work.
For seventy years, Sasaki has brought together the best of architecture, interior design, planning and urban design, space planning, landscape architecture, and civil engineering to shape the places in which we live. Out of our Boston, Denver, New York, Los Angeles, and Shanghai offices, we are defining the contours of place and redefining what is possible along the way. Today, we are a diverse practice of over 300 professionals who share a singular passion for creating authentic, equitable, and inspiring places.
