Xinyang High-Speed Rail Station Area Urban Design信阳高铁站片区城市设计

The urban design for the high-speed rail station area of the Southeast Henan High-tech Zone is organised under the theme "Industrial Hub, Zero-Carbon Water City". The planning area lies south of Yudongnan Avenue, east of the Xiaohuang River, north of the Shanghai–Shaanxi Expressway and west of the Beijing–Kowloon Railway, enclosing about 16.7 square kilometres, of which about 11 square kilometres is urban construction land. The district master plan was prepared by Beijing Tsinghua Tongheng Urban Planning & Design Institute; commissioned by the Xinyang Municipal Government, Atelier Alter Architects designed the key urban nodes within it.

The district sits where the historical culture of the Huai River, the revolutionary heritage of the Dabie Mountains and local ancestral-root culture meet, within a landscape of rivers, lakes, reservoirs and wetlands. Atelier Alter's "shanshui" (mountain-and-water) design shapes the station forecourt, a pair of twin towers and the rail interchange building: undulating, landscape-like forms run from the station up into the towers, creating a single skyline for station and city and giving the new town a gateway that answers its land of waterways and hills.

The scheme was completed in July 2023. The 16.7-square-kilometre figure describes the wider planning district, while Atelier Alter’s contribution concerns its key urban nodes.