Taopu Smart City

City of Shanghai
with Ennead Architects

Taopu’s industrial past left the area heavily contaminated, compelling the rePLACE team, working with Ennead Architects and BuroHappold Engineering, to assume responsibility for the cleanup of the pollution on site. In order to accomplish this goal, our team created mappings that called for capping the heavily polluted sites against traditional cut-and-fill strategies for the whole district.

Following the implementation of strategic decontamination schemes, rePLACE designed smart urban systems above and below grade that utilized gravity to reduce the overall energy needs of the district. This concept, appropriately dubbed an ‘Eco-Engine’, shaped the topography of the urban realm and, where possible, was woven into the public experience of the district. Day lighting of the systems were choreographed at key intersections between “live” and “work” zones in the master plan. These moments were specifically designed to educate the public about the functional benefits of implementing closed-loop systems for live-work neighborhoods. Intrinsically binding the remains of the site’s industrial past with the pedestrian experience of the future R&D district, rePLACE’s solution for the Taopu Smart City Master Plan set a new paradigm for resilient cities.