Minsheng Wharf

Industrial Waterfront Adaptive Reuse

Conceptual masterplan for a competition held by the city of Shanghai, China; done as an architectural preceptee at OMA.

The 120,000 sqm Minsheng Wharf contains a diverse range of preserved industrial spaces such as warehouses and silos. The municipality’s competition brief called for a redesigning of the site to create a world-class riverfront cultural belt, with art as its core program.

Art and the everyday life share a symbiotic relationship, with the interface between art programs and non-art supporting functions being experimental spaces where unique experiences and atypical art forms can take place.

Three new buildings are thus proposed to be added to the industrial buildings, with art and cultural program in the existing buildings, and new functions introduced in the architectural additions. This harmonious combination of Art and a wide range of day-to-day activities creates exciting hybrid moments, that could be a new planning typology applicable not just to Shanghai but to any other adaptive reuse project.