Tianjin Eco City Sculpture 1.0 | United Design Practice UDP

Our client is Sino-Singapore Tianjin Eco-City, the mastermind behind the biggest and most ambitious project to date in China on sustainable urban living. This township of 30 sq km developed jointly by Chinese and Singapore government is a showcase of environmentally friendly solutions to the urban problem, which will be a great challenge for the future as China's urban population will increase to 70% of total population by 2035, roughly translating to an increase of about 600 million people.

Their logo was meant to encapsulate this green vision. A seed from which the promise of a better future will blossom.

We reimagined this visual into a 3 dimensional form, a protective seed pod in the middle of which an actual living tree stands. A symbosis between the built environment and nature, a growing sculpture that also signifies the collaboration between the two governments and the marrying of their joint talents, efforts and foresight.

This comission was a design and build. We oversaw the entire process from protoyping to on-site installation. From a 1:20 3D printed model, to a 1:5 trial application of the gradient, to the final cast of the glass fibre reinforced concrete (GFRC).