By Delle Willett; featured in San Diego Downtown News; April 2, 2021
Two of San Diego’s local landscape architecture firms are working on inspiring international projects in China and Qatar.
David McCullough, Principal, McCullough Landscape Architecture, is engaged with Zizhu HiTech Industrial City, a new urban innovation city in Shanghai China. In 2016, McCullough was invited by Gafcon, Inc. to be the landscape architect for the industrial city, a new urban innovation city in Shanghai China. “We are grateful to be involved in such an exciting, highly creative, and cutting-edge project and welcome the challenge,” said Mccullough.
This new city is home to innovative technology corporations, including Scandisk, Intel, and Microsoft, as well as to research and manufacturers of automation machinery, biotech, energy, smart vehicle, and semiconductor technologies. The Zizhu project is being developed in phases. Phase one includes a lake, known as the “Purple Lake,” which will be surrounded by residential towers, yacht homes, a commercial district, lake gardens and a luxury hotel. Phase two, which includes enhanced amenities and features… is well under construction with the Gafcon/McCullough team.
Patrick Baldwin, Partner, Burton Studio in Solana Beach, is challenged by Msheireb Downtown Doha. Branded the “Smart City with a Soul,” Msheireb downtown Doha is nearly completed as of 2021. The Burton Studio’s work on the project began in 2010 and the final fourth phase of the project will be opening shortly. Said Baldwin, “While our travel to the region has slowed, the imagery we see has been thrilling and reflective.
“The project had a huge learning impact on the studio. Every line we drew required a story. This challenge has inspired the studio to take this into account on all of our projects. Whether that story lasts the lifetime of the project isn’t the most important. We see it as a simple tool that helps bring all of the stakeholders and designers on the project to unite in single vision.”
