For this competition, design teams are tasked with creating urban design and architectural concept proposals for the site (see the Design Brief for details). The first-prize winner shall undertake the task of integrating both urban design studies and concept optimization.

a) The competition is open to any design team with relevant project experience from any country in the world. Design firm established within China territory must both own legal documents that are within the validity period and be an independent legal entity or legal representative of other domestic organizations. Foreign design firm must be a legally registered firm in the country or region that the firm is located. Applicants with the same legal representative or direct holding relations shall not register for the competition at the same time. Please note that application by individuals or teams of individuals will not be accepted.

b) We encourage application by multi-disciplinary design consortium (the ’Design Consortium’ shall refer to disciplines including Architect, Urban Plan, Landscape Architecture, Hydrology and Water Resources Engineer, etc.). No more than 3 members of a design consortium may be required. Under no circumstances will any member of a registered consortium sign up at the same time in its name or the form of another consortium.

c) Teams with similar design experience will get priority.

d) The designers involved in this competition shall be officially enrolled in the agency. The chief designer shall be experienced in having directed quite a few projects of the same kind and will be committed to  the competition from inception through to completion. Internationally based applicants may be required to assign at least one proficient Chinese speaker in the design team for better understanding the regional backgrounds and regulations in China.

e) Applicants should submit the Registration Documents as required by the Competition Conditions

f) The chief designer directing the project shall attend the milestone presentation meetings. Should the chief designer present during the competition be inconsistent with the one specified in the Registration Document, the Organizer has the right to disqualify the team from the shortlist and competition.

g) Competition Information Inquiry Website/ WeChat Official Accounts

http://www.szdesigncenter.org/

https://www.archdaily.com/

http://www.abbs.com.cn/

Phase I: Registration and Pre-qualification

1. The organizer and client will set up a Selection Panel for Pre-qualification. The Selection Panel will evaluate the Registration Document submitted by the design teams from a number of criteria including certificates, portfolio, design team and working approaches. Six teams will be in the shortlist for Phase I. And two alternatives will be selected (in order) simultaneously, for being the substitutes if any of the 6 teams withdraw from the competition.

2. The six teams in the shortlist shall submit the Participation Confirmation on time. 

3. Should any of the shortlist withdraw from the competition not due to force majeure, the organizer and client have the right to disqualify the team from their any other competitions.

Phase II: Architecture-led Urban Design

1. The six shortlisted teams shall submit the deliverables meeting the requirements of the Design Brief. The Jury will select three of the six teams to Phase II.

2. Each team is only allowed to submit one design proposal.

3. The planning and design conditions and architectural statistics will be specified and fixed based on the researches and urban design strategies from the six teams.

Phase III: Architectural Concept Design 

1. The three shortlisted teams shall submit the deliverables meeting the requirements of the Design Brief. The Jury at Phase II will select two finalists of the three teams and recommend them to the Bank of Dongguan, who will ratify the order of the two finalists ultimately. The first one will be the first-prize winner, whose proposal will be the final proposal.

2. Each team is only allowed to submit one design proposal.

Competition Timetable

Note: The above timetable adopts Beijing time and is subject to adjustment by the Organizer and Client.

The six shortlisted teams through the pre-qualification will each receive an honorarium of CNY 1 million for completing the Phase I (Architecture-led Urban Design). An extra honorarium of CNY 1 million will be provided to each of the three shortlisted teams at Phase I for completing the Phase II (Architectural Concept Design).

The first-prize winner will receive a prize of CNY 3.5 million and be responsible for the final refined deliverables by taking advantages of all other proposals. The final achievement should be confirmed by the Client. Meanwhile, the second-prize winner will receive a prize of CNY 0.5 million.