“The role of the designer of a station building shifts from designing a transportation hub without bearing to its surroundings to considering it as an integral part of the city and its district. The analysis of connections and passenger flows both inside and outside play a fundamental role. We need to think about what the station means to the city now and in the future …” —— Triggianese an architect researcher at KAAN Architecten in Rotterdam and at Delft Technical University in Netherlands

In order to show the Jiaxing’ city characteristics of Jiaxing's "Red Boat" spirit, internationalization, canal complex and Jiangnan charms, the Jiaxing Municipal People's Government and Young Bird Plan, an international competition platform, jointly launch the Jiaxing City Bus Shelter Design Competition 2020. The competition is open to global designers and it is committed to recognizing excellent design works through experts’ assessment.

— Jury Panel —

  • YuYang Liu, Founder & Principal Architect of Atelier Liu Yuyang Architects
  • Wei Chunyu, Professor, Doctoral tutor, School of Architecture, Hunan University; Principal Architect of Regional Studio
  • Lin Hai, Deputy director of Jiaxing Bureau of Natural Resources and Planning and deputy director of Jiaxing Central Urban Improvement Institution
  • Isa Ye, Founder of designverse, Founder of Young Bird Plan

— Site Description —

Jiaxing's central urban area covers an area of about 256 square kilometers. The key design area is about 26 square kilometers within Jiaxing City Central. The area of use of bus shelters is shown in the picture on our official homepage.

— Design Goals —

The design of Jiaxing bus shelter should take both the artistry and function into consideration. It shall be in line with the cultural atmosphere of the region, with unique creativity, profound meaning, novel form, distinctive personality, strong visual impact and cultural appeal. The function of bus shelters shall be multiple, humanized and intelligent. With high-frequency public transportation stations as a medium, the image of Jiaxing's central urban area has been spread more systematically and effectively, showing Jiaxing’s city characteristics of "Red Boat" spirit, internationalization, canal complex and Jiangnan charms.

Urban public transportation is an important part of urban infrastructure construction. With the rapid development of the urban economy and the continuous expansion of the urban landscape, the role of public transportation in the development and operation of cities has become increasingly prominent.

Bus stations are generally located in crowded areas and play a positive role in reducing private car travel. Bus stations are generally located near large-scale transportation hubs, commercial complex, office clusters, hospitals, schools, and community entrances and exits, and can be reached within 10 minutes.

Different bus station designs have quite different impacts on the neighboring traffic flow: generally, harbor-shaped bus stations cause less delay to vehicles than linear bus stations. Stations at the intersection exit road have a less impact on vehicles than that at the entrance road.

The transformation and renovation of the bus station witnessed the development and changes of urban transportation. The bus station was transformed from a station sign to a stop, and the bus station hall was transformed from an ordinary station hall to a smart station hall. These witnessed that people are demanding more and more for the comfort, punctuality and convenience of transportation, with the increase of urban transportation choices and urban traffic congestion.

— Design Challenges —

(1) The appearance of urban bus stops can play a role in identifying the image of the city: The appearance of urban bus stops can play a role in identifying the image of the city, allowing people to form a cognitive transformation between the look of the bus station and the image of the city in a subconscious way, to make a direct and efficient connection between the outlook of the bus station and the local city.

(2) The look of urban bus stops can represent urban culture: A successful urban bus station design often goes beyond its own practical value, but becomes the business card of the city. As the first stop of communication with outsiders, the station has been endowed with cultural background and charm. This cultural value is often reflected in the following three aspects:

  • Commercial culture: The commercial culture of bus stations is largely reflected in the commercial advertisements displayed on them
  • Public welfare culture: Besides commercial advertisements, more and more public welfare advertisements appear on the information boards installed at bus stops. In addition to spreading the spirit and culture of public welfare, they also told the city's unique humanism care wordlessly.
  • Regional culture: The bus station, which represents the city's culture, is further enlarged, and it is also a manifestation of regional characteristics. For example, the bus station in Harbin presents a European style, and the bus station in Yangzhou is in classic style.

— Evaluation Criteria —

(1) Your design shall display regional characteristics, a sense of fashion and art, unique creativity, with strong visual impact and appeal.

(2) Your design shall be full of innovative spirit and a systematic extension of the brand's visual image, facilitating the promotion of the image of Jiaxing's central urban area and reflecting the city's characteristics of "Red Boat" spirit, internationalization, canal complex and Jiangnan charms.

(3) Your bus shelter design shall have a transparent and open view, complete supporting facilities, and meet the requirements of relevant regulations.

(4) The function of bus shelters shall be multiple, humanized and intelligent. Besides basic functions (chairs, wireless monitoring, billboards, lighting, real-time information boards of bus stations, city LOGO spaces, etc.), the bus shelters in key areas shall consider the following functions, such as car-hailing with one click service, USB charging interface, WIFI, multi-function intelligent query LCD screen, etc.For more detailed information, please download documents on our official website.

(5) Your design shall take the bus shelter lighting design into consideration.

(6) Guarantee the originality, exclusiveness and integrity of intellectual property.

— Eligibility —

1. This competition is open to professional designers and students of all ages with industry-specific background or design enthusiasts across the world;

2. Each group (three members at most) can submit two entries at most;

3. Each participant has to register on our website; for any question, please visit our website.