For most of the past decade, the architecture firm Urbanus has been slowly transforming one of Shenzhen's first factory complexes into a lively, mixed-use district catering to the needs of start-up companies and creative professionals. The multi-phase planning, design, and preservation effort in the Eastern Industrial Area in the Nanshan district echoes the changes overtaking Shenzhen as a whole, as the city moves from an industrial era to a period of creative entrepreneurship, from muscle to brains. But instead of tearing down the old factories and warehouses, Urbanus proposed recycling them as incubators for new companies and enterprises. This approach not only is more environmentally sustainable than throwing away the existing buildings and starting with a clean slate, but it has proved to be good for the client's business, reports the Urbanus partners Liu Xiaodu, Meng Yan, and Wang Hui.
Urbanus started with the southern part of the area, converting an old warehouse into a contemporary art center called OCAT and making a number of small-scale insertions in and onto other buildings. Galleries, bookstores, cafes, bars, artist ateliers, multi-media enterprises, fashion companies, and design firms moved in, establishing an economic ecosystem based on creativity and entrepreneurship. Urbanus was one of the first firms to move its offices to the OCT LOFT Creative Park.
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