Summer holidays may be drawing to a close, but that doesn't stop China's Hainan Province from seeing millions of tourists every year. And to keep up with demand, the province's capital Haikou has announced plans to build a new resort island just off of its coast. Earlier this week, the city revealed the final draft designs of the new South China Sea Pearl Eco-Island.
Hainan island is a popular vacation spot for travellers, it plans to build an artificial eco island located in the bay of the capital, haikou. Top architects from around the world competed for the chance to design the landmark. The jury chose a design from the United States.
"Our studio worked for a couple of months to imagine, how to take this amount of land and how to consolidate all the building program, in the smallest footprint possible, but also in a very natural land form. It's a stitching of nature and culture together. We are very excited about that," Professor Elizabeth Diller with Princeton University's Dept. of Architecture, said.
The final design draft was selected from 10 top architecture firms from Asia, Europe and America. It'll will take years to complete the construction of the eco-island, and it is expected to become a new resort for Hainan province.
The US group's design includes a 250-hectare eco-tourism hub, which will contain housing, hotels, tourist spots and a port large enough to hold two cruise ships. Authorities hope the project can bring new vitality to the province.
"This island will not only help boost local economic growth and create more jobs, but also bring some of the world's most advanced concepts in urban development to China," Mayor of Haikou Ni Qiang said.
Construction on the massive project is scheduled to begin next year.
