#dapeng peninsula

[paktderpakte]

IJN Musashi at anchor outside Hong Kong. The landmass visible in the background is the Dapeng Peninsula. Note the forward trim of the patrol boat near her funnel. This was the vessel that carried an envoy from Hong Kong Governor Mark Young, supposedly to negotiate evacuations.

Japanese sailors later reported that British emissaries explained their boat's trim by saying it had a leaky hull prone to taking on water. In fact, it was loaded with several tons of high explosive. Shortly after Musashi engaged her cranes to take the enemy boat on board, it exploded, damaging her upper decks, destroying the long-range comms antenna and several anti-aircraft guns, and causing the turret at her stern to list to one side. The damage looked more serious than it really was, and initial observers reported that the armored portions of the hull had been damaged, as well as the primary superstructure. In fact, the flagship remained seaworthy and capable of combat— though in an extended engagement such as the British Exile leadership had planned, the damage to her main guns and AA complement would no doubt have left her vulnerable to further attack.

Some historians speculate that the bombs were supposed to explode at the waterline, which, judging by the damage that was done to the battleship's more lightly armored upper decks, could have inflicted a wound necessitating immediate repair and possibly even one that would sink the ship. Alternately, penetrating the stern turret's magazine and causing a secondary explosion could have broken the ship in half.

Besides the pilot and purported British negotiator, both of whom were killed by the blast, seven Japanese sailors died instantly and twenty-six were seriously injured. Of those 26, one was the ship's captain and commander of the overall blockade fleet, Admiral Mineichi Koga, who had left the bridge to meet the negotiators. His injury, and the reluctance of Vice Admiral Shigeru Fukudome to order a retaliatory bombardment, kept the fleet immobilized for over an hour before Admiral Koga's passing.

— Extract from The Imperial Japanese Navy, 1918-1948, by E. Herbert Norman

Original images

[mishraabram]

Top 10 Major Ports in China

China is known for its manufacturing and shipping capabilities. It has a long coastline that is dotted with various harbors and small ports, which are used for a variety of purposes, including trading, fishing, and shipping.

China is one of the world’s largest importers, with its ports serving as major hubs for the transport of consumer goods, minerals, automobiles, and agricultural products to many countries around the world. The development of China has been heavily influenced by its shipping ports, which are a vital part of the country’s economy and play a key role in facilitating global trade.

If you’re interested in learning more about the major ports in China and their roles in the shipping industry, here is the list of the top 10 ports in China with crucial information about each port.

1. Port of Shanghai

In January 2003, the Shanghai Port Authority underwent a restructuring that resulted in the establishment of the Shanghai International Port (Group) Co., Ltd. (SIPG), the operator of public terminals in the Port of Shanghai. In June 2005, it changed its legal status to a shareholder company, and on October 26, 2006, it commenced trading on the Shanghai Stock Exchange, becoming the first Chinese firm of its sort to do so.

The Port of Shanghai, located in the center of the eastern shore of the Chinese mainland, is where the Yangtze River, often known as the “golden canal,” and coastal transit routes meet. It has access to both China’s southern and northern coasts, all of the world’s oceans, the Yangtze River basin, the inland rivers of Jiangsu, Zhejiang, and Anhui provinces, as well as the Taihu Lake basin.

The Port of Shanghai is located in a key geographic area with exceptional natural characteristics and a strong hinterland economy. It is served by well-connected road and railway networks as well as fully established cargo collecting and distribution systems.

Key Information

Monthly throughput record: 4.20M TEU

Total annual container throughput: 43.5M TEU

Vessels in port: 2290

Annual cargo tonnage: 514 million

Number of employees: 13,546

Top exports: Cars, integrated circuits, computers, telephones

Top imports: Processors and controllers, iron ore concentrate, gold, medium-sized cars

Top trading partners: United States, Japan, Hong Kong, Taiwan, United Kingdom and Germany

2. Port of Shenzhen

The Port of Shenzhen is located in China’s Guangdong Province, south of the Pearl River Delta. It is one of China’s most significant harbors in terms of foreign trade. Several ports along Shenzhen’s coastline are referred to as the Port of Shenzhen. It covers 260 kilometers of coastline. The Kowloon Peninsula also divides the port into two sections, the eastern and western ports.

The port is home to about 40 shipping companies’ headquarters, which have also opened about 130 international container lines. The Port of Shenzhen is also serviced by 230 international container routes. More than 300 ports in more than 100 nations are connected to Shenzhen.

The future of Shenzhen Port will see the implementation of the “two wings, six zones, and three main ports” layout. The east and west port groups are referred to as the “two wings,” while the “six areas” are the east’s Yantian and Dapeng port areas and the west’s Nanshan, Dachan Bay, Dachan Island, Xiaochan Island, and Bao’an port areas. Yantian Port, Nanshan Port, and Dachan Bay Port are the “three main ports,” emphasizing container shipping and highlighting Shenzhen Port’s fundamental competitiveness.

Key Information

Container traffic in 2018: 27.7 million TEU

Cargo tonnage in 2018: 194.9 million tons

Coastal line: Stretches along 260 km of coast

Container lines: 130

Number of employees: 12,454

Top exports: Mechanical and electronic products, computers, data processing devices, mobile phones, audio and video equipment

Total foreign trade, including imports: 3.45 Trillion Yuan

Three main ports: Yantian Port, Nanshan Port and Dachan Bay Port

3. Port of Ningbo-Zhoushan

The port is a large state-owned company of Zhejiang Province, Zhejiang Provincial Seaport Investment & Operation Group Co. Ltd., i.e. Ningbo Zhoushan Port Group Co. Ltd. (referred to as Zhejiang Seaport Group).

Zhejiang Seaport Group owns and runs more than 310 businesses with about 30,000 employees. Its primary businesses include the development and utilization of marine resources, investment in the marine industry, management and capital operation of resources related to the sea and ports, investment in the design and operation of ports, shipping services, storage, trading, and processing of bulk commodities, construction of marine engineering, and design and supervision of port engineering, among other things.

The group progressively combines port resources across the province per the idea of unified planning, building, branding, and operation. The group is dedicated to creating an integrated operating system and a top-notch contemporary port cluster by managing port assets in an integrated, extensive, and intensive manner.

With a coastline that stretches for 220 kilometers, Ningbo Zhoushan Port has a sizable port area. In addition to owning more than 200 big deep-water berths for boats over 10,000 dwt and more than 115 large and super-large deep-water berths for vessels over 50,000 dwt, it has 19 port regions. Most large and super-large deep-water facilities in Mainland China are owned and operated by Ningbo Zhoushan Port.

Since 2005, Ningbo Zhoushan Port has experienced a sharp increase in cargo volume. Ningbo Zhoushan Port’s container throughput in 2019 totaled 27.535 million TEUs, solidly placing it in third place globally. The total cargo throughput was 1.12 billion tons, putting it first globally for 11 years.

Key Information

Container throughput in 2019: 27.535 million TEU

Number of employees: 17,425

Top trading partners: European Union, United States and ASEAN

Total assets: 124.1 Billion

Total value of imports and exports at the port: $270.77 Billion

Largest import: Crude oil worth 153.48 Billion Yuan

4. Port of Guangzhou

The primary seaport for Guangzhou City, Guangdong Province, China, is the Port of Guangzhou. Guangzhou Port Group Co. Ltd., a state-owned enterprise, runs the port. It is currently South China’s largest all-encompassing port. Over 300 ports in more than 80 nations and regions throughout the world are served by its international maritime trade.

The port is also the major transportation and economic hub for the Guangdong province and the Pearl River Delta. It is an important transportation center for businesses in provinces nearby, including Jiangxi, Yunnan, Guangxi, Guizhou, Sichuan, Hunan, and Hubei.

In South China, the merger of the three most significant rivers, the Dongxiang, Xinjian, and Beijing, is where Guangzhou Port is located. A vital transportation hub is created by the intersection of the waterway, railway, motorway, and air routes for all three rivers. In the Pearl River Delta region, it serves as the primary port of concentration.

Key Information

Container traffic: 24.2 million TEU

Cargo tonnage: 600 million tons

Minimum wage: US$300

GDP growth rate: 8.3%

Number of terminals: 8

Top exports: Tea, silk, paper, copper, iron, gold and silver

Major trading partners: U.S, Japan, South Korea, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Thailand

5. Port of Hong Kong

A deep water seaport near the South China Sea, the Port of Hong Kong, is mainly used to transport manufactured goods in containers, with raw materials and passengers coming in second and third. The natural harbor and deep waters of Victoria Harbor, which play a crucial role in Hong Kong’s economic development, offer perfect conditions for the berthing and handling of all vessel types.

In terms of maritime movements, cargo handled, and passenger carries, it is one of the busiest ports in the world. For many years, the port was among the busiest—container ports in the world. From 1987 to 1989, from 1992 to 1997, and from 1999 to 2004, it ranked as the busiest cargo port in the world. In 2016, 25 869 container ships with a net registration tonnage of 386,853 tons passed through the container port in Hong Kong.

There are currently 11 separate yard sites used only for mid-stream activities, taking up 27.5 hectares of land and 3,197 meters of waterfront.

Key Information

Container traffic in 2018: 19.6 million

Cargo tonnage in 2018: 258.5 million tons

Land area: 279 hectares

Available berths: 24

Main exports: cement, blank audio media, oscilloscopes, metalworking transfer machines

Major imports: Equipment, manufactured goods and articles, chemical, mineral fuels

Top trading partners: Taiwan, USA, Singapore, Korea, Japan, Vietnam and India

6. Port of Qingdao

The Port of Qingdao is a seaport on the Yellow Sea in the vicinity of Qingdao, Shandong Province, People’s Republic of China. It is one of the ten busiest ports in the world.

In 2011, the Qingdao Port in Shandong Province, East China, joined forces with three other Chinese ports to form a strategic partnership with the largest port in the Republic of Korea (ROK). To establish a maritime and logistics hub in Northeast Asia, the ports of Qingdao in Shandong, Yantai, Rizhao, Weihai, and Busan in the ROK have joined forces to form the alliance.

Four sections of the Qingdao harbor serve as independent ports. Dagang and Qianwan manage cargo and container traffic. The Qingdao port is an international terminal, whereas Qianwan predominantly deals in domestic containers. A sizable facility for handling iron ore cargoes is also present at the Qingdao port.

Key Information

Container traffic in 2018: 18.26 million TEU

Cargo tonnage in 2018: 600 million tons

Alliance: Busan Port, South Korea

Number of Employees: 9,218

Major cargo handled: Grains, steel products, fertilizers, finish product oil, aluminum, frozen Products

Top trade partners: ASEAN, the United States and the EU

7. Port of Tianjin

Tianjin, formerly known as the port of Tanggu, is the biggest port in Northern China. It is also acknowledged as Beijing’s primary maritime entry point.

Every year, this port handles 500 million tons of cargo on average. It has undergone massive expansions through the years to accommodate the significant volume of goods it handles. To boost its capacity rate, the port is being developed constantly. This port in China is constantly open. It serves both people and various kinds of freight.

The port is renowned for moving bulk liquid and oil cargo. Its handling of freight containing liquid lye and propylene is one of its outstanding offerings. Additionally, it features roll-on and roll-off terminals for grain and other edible oils.

Key Information

Container traffic in 2018: 15.97 million TEU

Cargo tonnage in 2018: 428.7 million tons

Top imports: Fixed-wing aircraft, unladen weight, soya beans, electronic integrated circuits, iron ore, medium-sized cars

Top exports: Telephone sets, processors and controllers, bicycles, cargo containers

Major trade partners: United States, Hong Kong, Japan, South Korea and Vietnam

8. Port of Dalian

The Dalian port has been in use since 1899 and is currently operated by the Dalian Port Corporation. The port is situated on the Liaodong peninsula in the Liaoning province. It is the most northern Chinese harbor where the water doesn’t freeze. The port has more than 80 berths as well. Ships carrying more than 10,000 tonnes of cargo can be docked at 50 of them.

The port mostly reloads refined oils, coal, grain, and mineral oil. More than 300 ports in 160 nations send ships to Dalian. The Dalian port serves over 90 trade routes, both domestic and international. It ranks as China’s second-largest transshipment hub.

The northern port of Dalian serves large portions of the Pacific coastline. It manages a sizable amount of the cargo and container traffic from Pacific Rim countries to North and Eastern Asia. It is a deep-water port that serves both the Yellow Sea and the Bohai Sea, and it is the second-largest transshipment hub on the Chinese mainland. Over 160 different countries’ ships are serviced at 300 ports.

Seven berths that were once held by Nippon Yusen, Singapore Dalian Port Investment, and PSA China are now operated by the Dalian Container Terminal (DCT). Rail and vehicle connections to the port are good. For goods and containers, there are also sizable storage areas. Deepwater berths that have been modernized typically have a depth of 16 meters.

Key Information

Container traffic in 2018: 9.77 million TEU

Cargo tonnage in 2017: 455 million tons

Major trading partners: Japan, European Union, Saudi Arabia, United States and ASEAN

Number of employees: 11,227

Majorly handled cargo: Coal 15 million tons

9. Port of Xiamen

Xiamen is a deep sea port situated on the island of Xiamen along the Jiulongjiang river. It is ranked 17th in the world for cargo throughput— one of the few ports that can handle mega boats and sixth-generation ships. The Xiamen Municipal Government owns the bulk of Xiamen and manages it through the Xiamen Port Authority. It became one of the biggest ports in the world in 2010 after merging with the Port of Zhangzhou. Currently, it is South-East China’s largest port.

The port has 74 total berths spread across 12 separate operating zones. Nine are specifically designed terminals for handling containers; the remaining are for cargo. On average, these berths can process 10,000 tons of cargo, while some can handle 100,000 tons. The port extends across 30 kilometers of the harbor, with an average anchorage depth of 17 meters. Haitian, Liwudian, Dongdu, and Heping are a few operational zones.

Xiamen has cutting-edge technology and provides service to all major shipping lines. It handles almost 500 vessels per month from more than 50 nations and regularly runs 70 routes via the busiest ports in Europe, the Americas, and Africa. Additionally, the port runs a little passenger ferry that connects Xiamen to other ports on the mainland. Regular ferries run between Hong Kong, Guangzhou, Shanghai, and Wenzhou; service is also offered to Kinmen island.

Key Information

Container traffic in 2018: 10.7 million TEU

Cargo tonnage in 2018: 218 million tons

Major exports: Tea, salt graphite powder

Major imports: Wheat, cement, chemical fertilizers, coal, rolled steel, sugar

Major trade partners: ASEAN, U.S and European Union

10. Port of Yingkou

Yingkou Harbor is one of China’s smallest ports, but it is bigger than the largest ports in other countries. This port, which the Yingkou Port Group Corporation runs for the Republic, has 27 berths as well as numerous smaller docks and piers. The primary imports in this country are grain, coal, steel, and cars.

The main exports are foodstuffs, electronics, mass-produced commodities, containerized goods, and machinery parts.

The Old Yingkou Port on the Daliao River and the Bayuquan Port on the Bohai Sea are the two functional areas of the port. The seaport provides loading, pipeline transportation, pilotage, communication vessels, transportation by road and rail, and other services to incoming ships. Chinese Shipping Corporation (COSCO) and the port authorities jointly built the primary Bayuquan container terminal.

Key Information

Container traffic in 2018: 6.5 million TEU

Cargo tonnage in 2018: 21 million tons

Main imports: Grains, coal, steel, vehicles, oil tar, minerals

Main Exports: Container transfers

Major trade partners: Japan, Korea, the U.S and the European Union

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[stumbleimg]

Coastline of Dapeng Peninsula, China, 4000x2560[OC]

[architectnews]

SANAA designs cloud-like structure for Shenzhen Maritime Museum

Japanese architecture studio SANAA has revealed its design for a museum in Shenzhen, which will be enclosed by a collection of hemispherical forms blanketed by a mesh louvred roof.

Dubbed Clouds on the Sea by SANAA, the 100,000-square-metre Shenzhen Maritime Museum will have a long horizontal, cloud-like structure that was designed to appear as if it was rolling off the South China Sea.

"Shenzhen Maritime Museum is a continuation of its natural environment between the mountain of Dapeng Peninsula and the sea of Longqi Bay," SANAA told Dezeen.

"Shenzhen Maritime Museum is a horizontal landmark imagined as clouds emerging from the sea, like a museum born out of the ocean."

Top: SANAA has designed the Shenzhen Maritime Museum. Above: the museum was designed to look like clouds

SANAA designed the building to become a landmark on Longqi Bay. It will take shape as a collection of low-lying lattice domes covered in a stainless-steel louvred mesh.

"Structurally, the hemispherical dome space is designed as a glass sphere to introduce natural light and an opaque sphere to shield the natural light," said SANAA.

"Above these spheres lies a light floating stainless metal louvres mesh that shades visitors from the subtropical hot sunlight and provides a unified appearance with the landscape."

"Ultimately, the white cloud floats above the sea and changes its appearance at different weather and time."

Green spaces and parks will be landscaped to extend the museums area

The Maritime Museum will be organised into three exhibition areas positioned around a large lobby and several courtyards.

Its ground floor will be arranged as a continuous open-plan space without columns that will allow visitors to freely roam.

The building will connect with surrounding green spaces and a nearby wetland park to expand the museum's activity area toward the natural landscape.

"The low-lying large organic building is based on an ocean-museum-park integration concept and is both a continuation of the unique marine landscape and a celebration of marine culture open towards the city," said SANAA.

SANAA's design was selected as the winning proposal to an international competition arranged as part of the Shenzhen New Ten – a city-wide development plan that will see 10 new cultural buildings constructed.

Other projects being developed as part of master plan include the Shenzhen Opera House designed by Jean Nouvel and a pebble-shaped science museum designed by Zaha Hadid Architects.

All images are by SANAA.

The post SANAA designs cloud-like structure for Shenzhen Maritime Museum appeared first on Dezeen.

[isongstyle]

Camping holiday ⛺️ （在 Dapeng Peninsula Geopark） https://www.instagram.com/p/COWn9BNpUtT/?igshid=1nyxdcadba7fp

[thatsnakeman]

Coastline of Dapeng Peninsula, China, 4000x2560[OC] via /r/EarthPorn https://ift.tt/3jqwD6J

[xieluqian]

在 大鹏半岛国家地质公园 Dapeng Peninsula Geopark https://www.instagram.com/p/B5hutjYFH34/?igshid=19gjktxu5aj2i

[cnserviceexpert]

Dapeng Peninsula, a noted tourist attraction, was selected as one of the most beautiful coasts in China by Chinese National Geography. If you are going to #shenzhen, don’t miss this wonderful place. For more>>>http://www.eyeshenzhen.com

[ntabris]

at 大鹏半岛国家地质公园 Dapeng Peninsula Geopark https://www.instagram.com/p/B0dL8r7g1Z7/?igshid=wqszkdhwj99s

[furrina]

Geology Museum LeeMundwiler Architects

Geology Museum LeeMundwiler Architects

Geology Museum

The Dapeng Peninsula is on the southeastern coast of China and is designated as national park to preserve its pristine nature and surrounding environment. The peninsula was created by ancient volcano eruptions dated back 135 million years. This historic land formation is still apparent in the nature around the peninsular and coastal lines and these geological findings were our…

[kristablogs]

These images show some of the coolest designs to keep floodwaters at bay

Architects have proposed remodeling walkways around Quebec’s rivers to better manage floodwaters, and they have suggested installing a bike path, shown above, to encourage people to exercise. (White Arkitekter Oslo/)

This story originally featured on Nexus Media News

Architect Ruurd Gietema lives in The Netherlands, a country perennially trying to hold back the sea. He says his homeland has paid a price for the high dikes and tall dunes it built to thwart rising waters and prevent flooding.

“Protection was a high priority, but landscapes were erased,” Gietema says.

This fact is not lost on today’s architects and urban planners, who are thinking about how to protect other cities from more intense rainfall and rising seas. Their aim is to build flood-resilient structures that don’t destroy the landscape but preserve it—not just in the Netherlands, but around the world.

“Instead of working against nature, we’ve begun to work with it,” says Gietema, who is from Rotterdam. He and many of his colleagues are thinking hard about how best to adapt to a world beset by climate change, how they might protect cities against worsening weather while also conserving nature.

Architects have proposed building wooden walkways instead of concrete paths near waterways in Quebec City to allow floodwater to sink into the earth. (White Arkitekter Oslo/)

“The biggest thing that has changed for us is our time perspective,” says Rebekah Schaberg, an urban planner with the Oslo office of White Arkitekter, an architecture firm. “We are thinking more ahead, much more in the 30-to-50-year perspective. That’s not how we thought ten years ago.” Today, she says, “We are designing for the future of our cities, even for humanity.”

The latest wave of architectural innovations is the focus of a new exhibit, entitled “Sea Change,” at London’s Roca Gallery. It features flood-resilient projects from around the world, some that were recently finished and others that are just getting underway.

For example, Gietema, owner of the design firm KCAP, and Michiel van Driessche, a partner at landscape architecture firm Felixx, collaborated on a system of dikes built to protect Dapeng, a mountainous peninsula near Hong Kong that was hit hard by Typhoon Mangkhut in 2018.

The system of dikes being installed in Dapeng, China. (KCAP + Felixx/)

The multilayered system, expected to be completed in 2021, features a seaside dike designed to slow waves, reduce erosion and protect sea life. A second dike further inland is a bulwark against storm surge, while a third dike even afield channels rainwater cascading down the mountains into gardens, parks, forests and wetlands.

“Building a continuous protection wall would disturb the diversity of the green environment and abolish the close relation of the villages with the sea,” van Driessche says.

Flood protections in Shenzhen Bay, China. (KCAP + Felixx/)

The architects looked to nature for help keeping floods at bay. The proposed adding coral reefs in deeper waters and mangrove forests in shallower waters, Gietema says, adding, “These also soften the waves, and allow people who live in the local communities to fish.”

Schaberg’s work was also featured in the exhibit. In 2013, her firm drafted a plan to remake the Oslo waterfront, an industrial zone, into a hub of shops and restaurants with the Oslo Opera House as its centerpiece. Oslo sits at the end of a long fjord, and the remade waterfront, known as the Havnepromenade, marks its terminus.

“It’s become a big asset for the city. It’s reconnected the city and the people to the fjord,” she says.

The Havnepromenade in Oslo, Norway. (Frank Vincentz via Wikimedia/)

However, in recent years the Havnepromenade has faced a critical challenge. Several rivers drain into the fjord near the waterfront, leaving it vulnerable to floods, which have grown more severe over the last 10 years thanks to heavy rainfall. Furthermore, a report by the Norwegian Centre for Climate Services predicts that by 2100, Norway could see 18 percent more precipitation, resulting in more frequent and intense rainfall.

“This has caused design challenges and often makes the public space along the waterfront unusable for days at a time,” Schaberg says. The rivers are currently diverted into concrete pipes, which empty directly into the fjord along the waterfront. The project team proposed doing away with the concrete pipes, letting the water flow along dirt or gravel river beds—permeable surfaces that allow water to be absorbed into the earth, slowing the flow of the river.

She and her colleague, architect Jenny Mäki, also put together a plan to reconnect the inhabitants of Quebec to its four tributary rivers by transforming the watershed—a bowl-shaped landscape that channels rainfall and snowmelt to creeks, streams and rivers—into an urban park.

A rendering of mussels suspended from the bottom of a floating restaurant on the St. Charles River in Canada. (White Arkitekter Oslo/)

The plan calls for opening covered waterways, reintroducing local plants on the riverbanks, and installing wooden walkways and gravel paths instead of paved surfaces. It also proposes a floating seafood cafe on the St. Charles River, the city’s most polluted watery, and using mussels as a natural filter to clean the water. The plans also suggest building “floating campgrounds” on the Pont Rouge River.

A rendering of floating campsites on the Pont Rouge River in Canada. (White Arkitekter Oslo/)

“‘Let the water in’ became the motto for this river,” she says. “By floating new little covered platforms in the river, we could offer year-round camping and recreational facilities which are resilient to changing water levels.”

Their proposals won second place in a 2017 design competition sponsored by the city, and the architects have since been invited back to Quebec to discuss how the city can put the plan in action.

Another way to cope with high water is to live on it. The Dutch have embraced the concept of floating communities, building houses located directly on the water.

Floating Houses IJburg in Amsterdam, designed by Marlies Rohmer Architects & Urbanists, is one such community. Each home is connected to two steel poles that keep it from moving side to side, but all rise up and down with the water level.

Floating Houses IJburg in Amsterdam. (Marlies Rohmer Architects & Urbanists/)

Other architects are using parks, wetlands or pools of water to absorb floods. Architectural firm SLA sketched a plan for Hans Tavsens Park in Nørrebro in Copenhagen to deal with the sudden, violent rainstorms that bedevil the city. SLA designed the park to collect rainwater and funnel it through to Copenhagen’s lakes. It is slated for completion in 2023.

The plan for Hans Tavsens Park in Copenhagen. (Beauty and The Bit/)

“The problem is not water,” the firm’s founder and creative director, Stig L. Andersson said in an email. “The problem is the way we build and develop urban societies, infrastructure and energy production, where we work against nature rather than cooperate with it. We are creating new nature, not a traditional conventional park. And new nature is an ongoing process of changes. The maintenance of a new nature in the city follows the roles of nature, the order of nature—not the order of architecture.”

[scootoaster]

These images show some of the coolest designs to keep floodwaters at bay

Architects have proposed remodeling walkways around Quebec’s rivers to better manage floodwaters, and they have suggested installing a bike path, shown above, to encourage people to exercise. (White Arkitekter Oslo/)

This story originally featured on Nexus Media News

Architect Ruurd Gietema lives in The Netherlands, a country perennially trying to hold back the sea. He says his homeland has paid a price for the high dikes and tall dunes it built to thwart rising waters and prevent flooding.

“Protection was a high priority, but landscapes were erased,” Gietema says.

This fact is not lost on today’s architects and urban planners, who are thinking about how to protect other cities from more intense rainfall and rising seas. Their aim is to build flood-resilient structures that don’t destroy the landscape but preserve it—not just in the Netherlands, but around the world.

“Instead of working against nature, we’ve begun to work with it,” says Gietema, who is from Rotterdam. He and many of his colleagues are thinking hard about how best to adapt to a world beset by climate change, how they might protect cities against worsening weather while also conserving nature.

Architects have proposed building wooden walkways instead of concrete paths near waterways in Quebec City to allow floodwater to sink into the earth. (White Arkitekter Oslo/)

“The biggest thing that has changed for us is our time perspective,” says Rebekah Schaberg, an urban planner with the Oslo office of White Arkitekter, an architecture firm. “We are thinking more ahead, much more in the 30-to-50-year perspective. That’s not how we thought ten years ago.” Today, she says, “We are designing for the future of our cities, even for humanity.”

The latest wave of architectural innovations is the focus of a new exhibit, entitled “Sea Change,” at London’s Roca Gallery. It features flood-resilient projects from around the world, some that were recently finished and others that are just getting underway.

For example, Gietema, owner of the design firm KCAP, and Michiel van Driessche, a partner at landscape architecture firm Felixx, collaborated on a system of dikes built to protect Dapeng, a mountainous peninsula near Hong Kong that was hit hard by Typhoon Mangkhut in 2018.

The system of dikes being installed in Dapeng, China. (KCAP + Felixx/)

The multilayered system, expected to be completed in 2021, features a seaside dike designed to slow waves, reduce erosion and protect sea life. A second dike further inland is a bulwark against storm surge, while a third dike even afield channels rainwater cascading down the mountains into gardens, parks, forests and wetlands.

“Building a continuous protection wall would disturb the diversity of the green environment and abolish the close relation of the villages with the sea,” van Driessche says.

Flood protections in Shenzhen Bay, China. (KCAP + Felixx/)

The architects looked to nature for help keeping floods at bay. The proposed adding coral reefs in deeper waters and mangrove forests in shallower waters, Gietema says, adding, “These also soften the waves, and allow people who live in the local communities to fish.”

Schaberg’s work was also featured in the exhibit. In 2013, her firm drafted a plan to remake the Oslo waterfront, an industrial zone, into a hub of shops and restaurants with the Oslo Opera House as its centerpiece. Oslo sits at the end of a long fjord, and the remade waterfront, known as the Havnepromenade, marks its terminus.

“It’s become a big asset for the city. It’s reconnected the city and the people to the fjord,” she says.

The Havnepromenade in Oslo, Norway. (Frank Vincentz via Wikimedia/)

However, in recent years the Havnepromenade has faced a critical challenge. Several rivers drain into the fjord near the waterfront, leaving it vulnerable to floods, which have grown more severe over the last 10 years thanks to heavy rainfall. Furthermore, a report by the Norwegian Centre for Climate Services predicts that by 2100, Norway could see 18 percent more precipitation, resulting in more frequent and intense rainfall.

“This has caused design challenges and often makes the public space along the waterfront unusable for days at a time,” Schaberg says. The rivers are currently diverted into concrete pipes, which empty directly into the fjord along the waterfront. The project team proposed doing away with the concrete pipes, letting the water flow along dirt or gravel river beds—permeable surfaces that allow water to be absorbed into the earth, slowing the flow of the river.

She and her colleague, architect Jenny Mäki, also put together a plan to reconnect the inhabitants of Quebec to its four tributary rivers by transforming the watershed—a bowl-shaped landscape that channels rainfall and snowmelt to creeks, streams and rivers—into an urban park.

A rendering of mussels suspended from the bottom of a floating restaurant on the St. Charles River in Canada. (White Arkitekter Oslo/)

The plan calls for opening covered waterways, reintroducing local plants on the riverbanks, and installing wooden walkways and gravel paths instead of paved surfaces. It also proposes a floating seafood cafe on the St. Charles River, the city’s most polluted watery, and using mussels as a natural filter to clean the water. The plans also suggest building “floating campgrounds” on the Pont Rouge River.

A rendering of floating campsites on the Pont Rouge River in Canada. (White Arkitekter Oslo/)

“‘Let the water in’ became the motto for this river,” she says. “By floating new little covered platforms in the river, we could offer year-round camping and recreational facilities which are resilient to changing water levels.”

Their proposals won second place in a 2017 design competition sponsored by the city, and the architects have since been invited back to Quebec to discuss how the city can put the plan in action.

Another way to cope with high water is to live on it. The Dutch have embraced the concept of floating communities, building houses located directly on the water.

Floating Houses IJburg in Amsterdam, designed by Marlies Rohmer Architects & Urbanists, is one such community. Each home is connected to two steel poles that keep it from moving side to side, but all rise up and down with the water level.

Floating Houses IJburg in Amsterdam. (Marlies Rohmer Architects & Urbanists/)

Other architects are using parks, wetlands or pools of water to absorb floods. Architectural firm SLA sketched a plan for Hans Tavsens Park in Nørrebro in Copenhagen to deal with the sudden, violent rainstorms that bedevil the city. SLA designed the park to collect rainwater and funnel it through to Copenhagen’s lakes. It is slated for completion in 2023.

The plan for Hans Tavsens Park in Copenhagen. (Beauty and The Bit/)

“The problem is not water,” the firm’s founder and creative director, Stig L. Andersson said in an email. “The problem is the way we build and develop urban societies, infrastructure and energy production, where we work against nature rather than cooperate with it. We are creating new nature, not a traditional conventional park. And new nature is an ongoing process of changes. The maintenance of a new nature in the city follows the roles of nature, the order of nature—not the order of architecture.”

[mactremgear-blog]

We have a great relaxed weekend in Yangmeikeng. Yangmeikeng (Chinese:杨梅坑) is an valley and scenic spot facing Daya Bay, on Dapeng Peninsula, Dapeng New District, Shenzhen, China.Yangmeikeng is parcularly famous for its natural beaches. Many chose to rent bikes to ride along the seashore. You can't miss it if you travel to China

[architectnews]

SANAA designs cloud-like structure for Shenzhen Maritime Museum

Japanese architecture studio SANAA has revealed its design for a museum in Shenzhen, which will be enclosed by a collection of hemispherical forms blanketed by a mesh louvred roof.

Dubbed Clouds on the Sea by SANAA, the 100,000-square-metre Shenzhen Maritime Museum will have a long horizontal, cloud-like structure that was designed to appear as if it was rolling off the South China Sea.

"Shenzhen Maritime Museum is a continuation of its natural environment between the mountain of Dapeng Peninsula and the sea of Longqi Bay," SANAA told Dezeen.

"Shenzhen Maritime Museum is a horizontal landmark imagined as clouds emerging from the sea, like a museum born out of the ocean."

Top: SANAA has designed the Shenzhen Maritime Museum. Above: the museum was designed to look like clouds

SANAA designed the building to become a landmark on Longqi Bay. It will take shape as a collection of low-lying lattice domes covered in a stainless-steel louvred mesh.

"Structurally, the hemispherical dome space is designed as a glass sphere to introduce natural light and an opaque sphere to shield the natural light," said SANAA.

"Above these spheres lies a light floating stainless metal louvres mesh that shades visitors from the subtropical hot sunlight and provides a unified appearance with the landscape."

"Ultimately, the white cloud floats above the sea and changes its appearance at different weather and time."

Green spaces and parks will be landscaped to extend the museums area

The Maritime Museum will be organised into three exhibition areas positioned around a large lobby and several courtyards.

Its ground floor will be arranged as a continuous open-plan space without columns that will allow visitors to freely roam.

The building will connect with surrounding green spaces and a nearby wetland park to expand the museum's activity area toward the natural landscape.

"The low-lying large organic building is based on an ocean-museum-park integration concept and is both a continuation of the unique marine landscape and a celebration of marine culture open towards the city," said SANAA.

SANAA's design was selected as the winning proposal to an international competition arranged as part of the Shenzhen New Ten – a city-wide development plan that will see 10 new cultural buildings constructed.

Other projects being developed as part of master plan include the Shenzhen Opera House designed by Jean Nouvel and a pebble-shaped science museum designed by Zaha Hadid Architects.

All images are by SANAA.

The post SANAA designs cloud-like structure for Shenzhen Maritime Museum appeared first on Dezeen.

[shekougirl]

Dapeng Fortress and Ancient Village

In early April I took an organized day trip to hike up Qiniang Mountain in the Shenzhen Dapeng Peninsula National Geopark and to view this walled village and fortress in the subdistrict Dapeng, district Longgang, Guangdong Province, China.  It is located about 55 km from the center of Shenzhen.  The fortress was built in 1394 to protect the area from pirates, and later developed into a town during the Ming and Qing dynasties.  Go on-line to learn more detail about the area.  There are nice photo opportunities and below are some directions that I jotted down along the way so that I could return in the future with my husband and our driver. The trip was organized by an Italian expat who enjoys sharing his knowledge of the area.  He has future trips planned around the area, and I will share his link in a future post.

I highly recommend using GPS to chart your course.  To the mountain, head out of Shenzhen via Yantian and follow the Eastern Coast Expressway.  Follow your GPS directions for the exit and to proceed into the peninsula to the mountain.  There is a fairly new museum at the base of the mountain for those less hardy for the climb.  This is a volcanic mountain with educational signage along the stone step path.  You need to be in fairly good shape to go all the way up, but families and people of all strengths go for it.

From Qiniang Mt. to the fortress and village, go north on Xinda Road.  Turn right at Binhai 2nd Road.  Go left on Yintan Road, right on Pengfei Road, then left into Dapeng Fortreess SE gate, which looks like a strip mall parking lot where you can park.  Again, I recommend using GPS to get from the mountain to the Fortress.

Heading back to Shenzhen, take Peng Fei Rd out of town to return to the Expressway.  GPS!  

[merwelmar]

Dapeng Fortress.  Dapeng Peninsula, China.