This first award-winning plan for the International New World Plaza Competition converts an existing site into an arterial network, based on references to the human cardiovascular system and the Yangtze River tributaries. The plaza is composed of cast-in-place ribbons of concrete that provide walking spaces, a mounded shelter over a new commercial facility and earth pockets for extensive clusters of trees on the north and south perimeters. The fragmented surface of this ‘urban forest’ also accommodates a matrix for diversified planting, observation mounds, water features, seating areas and rain shelters.
