Unicorn Island: A Haven for Startups | Designed by Morphosis

One of four winning entries for the Unicorn Island masterplan, Morphosis’s scheme envision a walkable park city interweaving business resources, green infrastructure, and lifestyle to create the optimum conditions for incubating Unicorn companies.

Courtesy of Morphosis

Global business is undergoing a fourth industrial revolution, characterized by the shift from traditional financial and real-estate investment models to internet and tech-related startups driven by private investment. China has emerged as a world leader in this shift, with more than a third of the world’s billion-dollar startups, or ‘unicorn companies,’ originating in the country. However, as the tech startup investment model begins to mature, nascent companies must increasingly compete with each other for capital, by demonstrating more sound business plans, financial projections, and enduring relevance.

Courtesy of Morphosis

To support and grow China’s leadership into the future, national economic development strategy has focused on initiatives to incubate more ‘gazelle,’ ‘unicorn,’ and ‘super-unicorn’ companies, bolstered by support networks to help ensure the long-term value of Chinese startups. Unicorn Island is at the heart of this initiative, imagined as a dedicated urban center providing guidance, support, and resources to startups, as well as a working and living environments competitive to international business cities.

Courtesy of Morphosis

At the heart of Tianfu New Area, Chengdu’s emerging hi-tech and research sector, Unicorn Island is ideally positioned to become a vibrant hub for economic development, cross-market research, and contemporary urban living. Located in proximity to Chengdu Shuangliu International Airport, and along major roadways and rail routes, the island connects to downtown Chengdu and global business networks while offering a walkable pedestrian environment, with all activity located within a seven-minute walk of the central rail station. The island’s position on Xing Long Lake offers an opportunity to create a memorable new skyline and identity for China’s booming startup community.

Drawings

Building on design concepts used in the most successful creative campuses and tech-incubators world-wide, Unicorn Island hosts a diverse mixed-use community of flexible office space, high-end residential communities, and recreational areas. The island is organized into four ‘neighborhoods,’ each designed to nurture a different stage in the development of a unicorn company. Companies within each neighborhood benefit from flexible office space and shared resource hubs offering coaching, administrative support, and tech services. Satellite outposts and partnerships with Chendgu’s leading universities encourages cutting-edge research applications and provides a competitive hiring pool of emerging talent. A central tower provides premium offices for fully-developed unicorn companies and defines the Unicorn Island skyline.
Article via Morphosis

Project Details