Floating Green Island — ALTN VISION

01 / Context

A living settlement, not a blank site

Xincun Lagoon is a sheltered fishing port where hundreds of fishing rafts have historically combined aquaculture, domestic life, movement and social exchange. The competition asked how this evolving settlement could gain safer living conditions and viable public programs while retaining its cultural identity.

The 2023 Lingshui Marine Fishing Rows International Architectural Design Competition treated implementability as its largest evaluation criterion. Track B focused on creating public space on existing fishing rafts, including cultural, hospitality, leisure and small-business programs alongside low-carbon and water-management strategies.

Floating Green Island responds at two scales: a lagoon-wide spatial network and a repeatable raft-house unit. Instead of a singular redevelopment, it proposes an incremental system able to adapt as households, public activities and local economies change.

Floating Green Island vision board with masterplan render and four-stage settlement growth strategy — Vision — public activity, shore connection, settlement consolidation and growth toward the lagoon.View full board ↗

02 / Framework

From shoreline to floating community

The masterplan begins with the existing fishing-raft grain, retains selected areas, strengthens shore-to-settlement links and organizes new development through a modular planning grid.

01

Locality

Retain the productive and social logic of the fishing rows, translating Tanka cultural practices into contemporary public programs.

02

Modularity

Use a repeatable grid and adaptable building units so housing, landscape and commercial uses can expand in stages.

03

Sustainability

Coordinate solar energy, water collection, reuse, passive cooling and aquatic cultivation as one environmental strategy.

Masterplan and ten-step spatial planning generation process for the floating settlement — Masterplan generation — retained fabric, shore-to-settlement connections, public nodes, natural bands, modular grid and commercial distribution.View full board ↗

03 / Public Life

A network of reasons to stay

Sixteen public anchors distribute daily services, leisure and cultural activity across the lagoon rather than concentrating every program into one tourist object.

Program network locating hospitality, recreation, cultural and waterfront nodes across Xincun Lagoon — Program network — a continuous sequence of public and commercial nodes.Full board ↗

04 / Modular Street

Commercial space that can grow by pieces

A 7 × 7 metre unit grid combines fixed structure, active rooms and open yards. Modules can stretch, cluster or fragment to create a village-like commercial street rather than a sealed shopping complex.

Marine commercial walking street board showing modular generation, plans and waterfront renderings — Incremental commercial fabric — retail, café, gallery, screening room, courtyards and waterfront circulation.View full board ↗

05 / Cultural Anchors

Recognisable forms, shared occasions

Two landmark structures turn familiar maritime references into collective space: the fishing hat becomes a wedding hall, while the sail becomes a luminous festival and gathering structure.

Fishing-hat wedding hall and sail-inspired festival pavilion with waterfront public-space studies — Spiritual and cultural space — identity is carried through use, event and recognisable silhouette.View full board ↗

06 / Living System

The raft house as environmental infrastructure

The dwelling prototype combines flexible interior space with energy, water and cultivation systems. The goal is not a finished industrial product, but a coordinated architectural strategy for upgrading everyday life on the fishing rows.

ENERGY

Solar roof

Photovoltaic panels and integrated solar-energy components use the sloping roof as a collection surface.

WATER

Collect, filter, reuse

Rainwater harvesting, storage and filtration are paired with a conceptual treated-water reuse strategy for planting and irrigation.

CLIMATE

Passive comfort

Roof insulation, operable sliding walls and cross-ventilation reduce heat gain and improve airflow.

PRODUCTION

Aquatic cultivation

Seaweed, microalgae, aquaculture and water gardens connect livelihood, ecology and food production.

Fishing row house board with energy, water, passive cooling, aquaculture, plans, construction and interior views — House system — modular raft combinations, environmental services, adaptable interior and build-up.View full board ↗

07 / Construction Logic

Working with the raft, not against it

The proposal sets a parameterised grid over the settlement and pairs a lightweight boat-house frame with buoyancy, aquaculture and service layers. Flexible furniture and a three-zone plan allow a compact unit to support changing domestic routines.

Fishing raft construction board with risk analysis, exploded assembly, adaptable plan and living scenarios — Raft construction — existing conditions, layered assembly, movable living platform and climate response.View full board ↗

08 / Record

Competition and project credits

Competition: 2023 Lingshui Marine Fishing Rows International Architectural Design Competition
Track: Track B — Public Space Creation
Result: Shortlisted entry
Studio: INF. STUDIO
Team: Zhangyi Yu, Shi Zhang, Kankan Xuan, Hongliang Zhu (Altankhuu JORGUTYN), Lingyi Li
Individual contribution: Masterplan, concept, landscape and architectural design, modelling, animation and report development
Organisers: Lingshui Li Autonomous County Tourism, Culture, Radio, Television and Sports Bureau; Lingshui Development Holding Group. Organised with AIM Competition and SMART.
Official record: View the shortlisted project on AIM ↗