Hyperlane is a 2.4km multi-level linear sky park, youth culture and lifestyle destination at the heart of the music and arts university district in Chengdu. It establishes a vibrant and fun, music- and life-orientated linear space, linking the local transportation hub with the university community and campus in Chengdu. The Urban Gallery was the first phase of the Hyperlane. It's a pocket place for the community to come together. Defined by the simple notion of ‘community and connection’, the urban gallery is a bold, vibrant youth-oriented point of identity that reflects the artistic and creative culture of the district. With the singular unifying expression of ”community”, the layered circular form playfully morphs, transforms and adapts to the varying functions and experiences of the place; from the urban promenade along the street edge, tothe water carpet which acts as a threshold arrival scene to the space, to the performance gallery and the community terrace and the small social seating pods nestled intimately within the planting.

The site was formally a series of derelict walled in spaces used for unplanned parking and offered zero social or environmental value to the area or community. The pre-existing perimeter walls resulted in the student accommodation area being physically and socially disconnected from the university campus, with only a small number of narrow degraded alleyways allowing access. Interestingly, the student accommodation area offered more ideas to the community’s current lifestyle with an environment full of vibrant visual art. The tarmac streets were brought to life with colourful graphic painting and the shops, stores and outside dinning was compacted in small scale clusters and pockets. The resulting urban gallery consists of both a curatable and a permanent programme. It is a social experiential place and point of community connection that supports the youthful creative arts and music culture.

New Commercial Consciousness: Hyperlane leads the movement of a new consciousness within the Chinese development industry, one that stems from a clear understating that long term social, environmental and economic success of a development isn’t achieved by short term commercial gains, but with attention to socially and environmentally orientated systems, program and experiences that add meaningful value, experience and delight to the lives of the community. When completed the Hyperlane will provide a valuable contribution to the local urban environment that considers human comfort, safety, accessibility, scale, program equality and diversity that brings a bold injection of vibrancy to the daily lives of all the creative and arts community.

The vision of Hyperlane was to create a hyper-connective, multi-level linear social platform that responded to the unique and characteristics of the students. The landscape design is founded on the principle of creating a balanced system that responds to both the humanistic and environmental needs of the project. A series of youth community-oriented networks, connections, social spaces, performance, and creative arts progammes and activities interplay along the entire length. Additionally, to bring nature and natural systems into the heart of the design, so planting species selected are predominantly local and look to encourage insects, birds and wildlife to the urban corridor. Overal, Hyperlane creates a critical platform for social, transportation and blue/green infrastructure!

Client: Chengdu Xinding Landscape Architecture: ASPECT Studios led by Stephen Buckle (ASPECT Studios studio director) Landscape Design Team: Yan Luo, Sam Xu, Alex Cunanan de Dios, Morey Zhou, Iris Di, Architecture: Aedas; Principle: Dr. Andy Wen (Global Design Principle of Aedas) Lighting: Brandston Partnership Inc. LDI: BW Landscape Design Contractor: Chengdu First Construction Engineering Co., Ltd. of CDCEG Photography: Lu Bing