24/01/2020 Happy Chinese New Year!

Welcome to the Year of the Metal Rat!

[Translate to English:] Das chinesische Jahr 2020 steht im Zeichen der Ratte und ist dem Element Metall zugeordnet. Diese Kombination steht für Verlässlichkeit, Gesundheit und Klugheit. Die im Jahr der Metall-Ratte Geborenen haben zudem die Gabe Unglück in Glück zu wandeln. Zum Auftakt eines neuen...

16/01/2020A Temporary Home for the Frankfurt Opera

The results of the aac workshop will be exhibited at the DAM in Frankfurt

The 2019 autumn workshop of the Academy for Architectural Culture (aac) focused on the question as to what a design of a temporary home for the Frankfurt Opera could look like. Under the guidance of Meinhard von Gerkan and Stephan Schütz, the international scholarship students developed designs for a temporary home for the Opera at Bockenheimer Warte which, together with the existing Bockenheimer Depot, could further enhance this area as a cultural hub. The results will be exhibited at the DAM (German Architecture Museum) in Frankfurt from January 24, 2020.

03/01/2020Meinhard von Gerkan Turns 85 Today

On January 3, 2020, the gmp Founding Partner Is Celebrating His Birthday

Today, Meinhard von Gerkan, founding partner of gmp, is celebrating his 85th birthday. Starting with the large Berlin Tegel Airport project in the 1960s, von Gerkan has made a significant contribution to architecture in the Federal Republic of Germany. Today, gmp is one of the largest German architectural practices, with an international presence and over 500 employees.

13/12/2019Ready to Go!

Elbbrücken Underground and Metropolitan Railway Stations Completed

In time for the timetable change on December 15, 2019, trains stopped for the first time at the new Elbbrücken metropolitan railway station. With the opening of this stop, the Elbbrücken Underground and S-Bahn station has been completed and passengers can now change directly from the S-Bahn to the Underground system at this new public local transport interchange. Commuters will now have the opportunity to change trains here on their way to Hamburg city center, which will take some of the pressure off the main railway station. Like the Underground station that has already been completed, the roof of the S-Bahn station and the connecting Skywalk were designed by gmp in cooperation with the structural engineers schlaich bergermann partner.

09/12/2019Poly Greenland Plaza

Office complex in Shanghai receives CTBUH award

The Poly Greenland Plaza office complex, built to a design by gmp, has been selected for the Award of Excellence of the 2020 CTBUH Awards in the Urban Habitat–District/Master Plan category, which qualifies it as a finalist in the Overall Category. The ensemble of office towers and commercial buildings forms a unique address in the city environment. A generous sequence of plazas and an open shopping arcade create diverse urban qualities that link the complex with its surroundings.

04/12/2019Hyparschale Magdeburg

gmp refurbishes protected shell building by Ulrich Müther

The Hyparschale building in Magdeburg at the eastern bank of the River Elbe, which dates from 1969, is one of about fifty shell buildings by Ulrich Müther that are still in existence. Having stood empty for over 20 years, the refurbishment of the building in line with monument preservation guidelines is now starting to a design by gmp. The focus is on reviving the structure as an events and exhibition venue, as well as overhauling and repairing the concrete shell roof, which will once again bring to life the spatial effect of this hall with its column-free construction.

02/12/2019Suzhou No.2 Libary

First library in China with an intelligent storage system

At the end of 2019, the Suzhou No. 2 Library will be opened to the north of the historic Suzhou city center. This means that this traditional cultural city will have more than “just” a new library. Embedded in a new park landscape, the new library building with its integrated specialist libraries, collections, and exhibition rooms also fulfills the functions of a culture center. The key feature of the library is the intelligent storage system with a capacity of seven million books—the first in the country. gmp had won the competition and received the commission in 2014.

04/11/2019First Prize for the Design of the State Archive Won by gmp

A New Building Is Planned for Bavaria’s State Archives in Kitzingen

On October 18, 2019, the architects von Gerkan, Marg and Partners (gmp), in cooperation with landscape architects Capatti Staubach, were announced as winners of the competition for the design of the new build-ing for Bavaria’s State Archives in Kitzingen. Of the 80 practices that had originally applied to take part, 25 were admitted to the competition. The new State Archive is intended to provide facilities for scientific work and also to be available to visitors and Kitzingen citizens. This meant that a holistic design concept was required that also includes the surrounding terrain with its proximity to the old city.

18/10/2019Concert hall at Kiel Castle

gmp and bbp commissioned for the refurbishment

The plan is, in the years to come, to refurbish the concert hall dating from 1965 in accordance with conservation principles. In a two-stage process negotiated by the administration of the state capital, Kiel, the architects von Gerkan, Marg and Partners, together with the Kiel architects’ practice bbp, were successful in obtaining the commission. The refurbishment will focus on the acoustic and technical upgrade of the concert hall, with 1,400 seats for classical concerts as well as for theater performances, festivals, and congresses.

01/10/2019Congress Hotel for HafenCity’s Elbbrücken Quarter

gmp builds next to the Hamburg Elbe bridges

HafenCity is currently undergoing expansion in the Elbbrücken Quarter. Last summer, the architects von Gerkan, Marg and Partners (gmp) won the competition that was held to design a congress hotel with a large conference hall on this key site at the tip of Baakenhafen basin. After a comprehensive phase of revisions, the congress hotel is now presented in updated form.

24/09/2019Meinhard von Gerkan receives the Liang Sicheng Architecture Prize

Chinese award honors the life’s work of gmp’s founding partner

Meinhard von Gerkan will be honored in Beijing on September 24, 2019, with the Liang Sicheng Prize – the highest distinction for architects in China. The news of the award coincides with the 20th anniversary of gmp’s building activity in China.

20/09/2019gmp Wins Competition for the Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin

Rehabilitation and Restructuring of the Architectural Icon by Hans Scharoun

The architects von Gerkan, Marg and Partners (gmp) have been awarded first prize in the competition for the modernization and restructuring of the Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin from Hans Scharoun. The jury found that the design for the golden “ship of books” meets the demands of new, open libraries in the 21st century while at the same time preserving and again revealing the outstanding architectural qualities of this important academic library.

05/09/2019GDA Plaza in Hangzhou

Extending the existing plaza

A new high-rise building makes its impact on the skyline of Hangzhou, the Chinese metropolis with 9 million inhabitants. The 130-meter-high tower is part of the extension and redesign of the GDA Plaza, a business center in the traditional business quarter of the city, which includes a shopping mall and hotel. Architects von Gerkan, Marg and Partners (gmp), who had previously won the competition, were in charge of the design and implementation.

26/08/2019Ost Indoor Swimming Pool in Leipzig

First prize goes to ensemble by gmp

With its timeless and clear pattern language, the design by architects von Gerkan, Marg and Partners impressed the jury. The ensemble comprising the indoor sports swimming pool and health center at Otto-Runki-Platz continues the block structure of Neustadt and, at the same time, makes a link to the neighboring parks.

08/08/2019Japanisches Palais—The Kunstkammer as a working collection

Exhibition of the results of the aac workshop in Dresden

The aac spring workshop was focused on the Japanische Palais—the last element in Dresden’s museum landscape that still requires refurbishment. Under the guidance of Meinhard von Gerkan and Stephan Schütz, the students developed designs that open the building towards Neustadt and the River Elbe, and convert the Japanische Palais into a “working collection” in which the general public is involved in the process of artistic creation. From August 15 the results will be shown in an exhibition in Dresden.

07/08/2019Topping-Out Ceremony for Modular School Built of Wood

Temporary Quarters for 2,000 Pupils in Frankfurt am Main

After just 24 months of design and construction, the topping-out ceremony for the Miquelallee school center was held at the building site on July 30, 2019. By using prefabricated wood modules, a temporary home of high quality was erected for two schools in very short time. The design concept of architects von Gerkan, Marg and Partners (gmp) also enables the modular building to be dismantled and rebuilt at another location.

31/07/2019Vertical composition

gmp wins competition for China Telling

In the competition for the China Telling Communications Building, the design by Architects von Gerkan, Marg and Partners (gmp) impressed the jury with its ensemble of two high-rise buildings that are linked by a shared podium landscape. The form concept of two floating cubes, which symbolize the different business sections of China Telling Corp., reflect the world of business in its widest sense.

17/07/2019Energy landscape

Green campus for China Southern Power Grid

Embedded in a landscape of wooded hills, the head office of the second largest Chinese power network operator has been created in the southern Chinese metropolis of Guangzhou. The campus, which has been designed by the architects von Gerkan, Marg and Partners (gmp), places the architecture at the heart of nature: the buildings—some of which feature an atrium—have been developed to LEED sustainability standard and create a sequence of landscaped plazas and atriums, which are linked via bridges and footpaths.

25/06/2019Architecture x Fashion—A Dialogue

Exhibition to mark 20 years of gmp in China

An exhibition initiated by architects von Gerkan, Marg and Partners (gmp) and the Shanghai fashion label ICICLE, places the two applied arts of architecture and fashion in a dialogue and establishes a relationship between the two disciplines. To mark 20 years of gmp in China, the exhibition will be shown in Germany from June 29 to July 12, 2019, as part of the Hamburger Architektur Sommer.

05/06/2019New Spaces for Art

Opening of the Bucerius Kunst Forum in Hamburg

The Bucerius Kunst Forum has relocated to its new premises at Alter Wall 12 along the revitalized Alter Wall in the city center of Hamburg. The building block behind the listed historic facades of Alter Wall 2–32 is currently being completely reorganized to plans by the architects von Gerkan, Marg and Partners (gmp). The art venue will be formally inaugurated at a festive event on June 6, 2019. And starting June 7, 2019, the public is invited to explore the new exhibition spaces.

02/06/2019Norderelb Bridge in Hamburg

LAP and gmp win competition for new bridge for the A1 motorway

As part of the upgrade of the A1 federal motorway, the new bridge designed by the engineers Leonhardt, Andrä und Partners (LAP) and the architects von Gerkan, Marg and Partners (gmp) replaces the existing bridge across the Norderelbe River. The double cable-stayed bridge with its pylons of different heights will be visible from afar, marking the point at which it crosses the river. The project is included in the Federal Transport Infrastructure Plan for 2030.

28/05/2019Topping out ceremony in the Springer Quarter

New development in Hamburg’s inner city takes shape

A little more than one year after laying the foundation stone on the Springer Quarter site in April 2018, the next milestone has been reached: the topping out ceremony took place on 23 May 2019. On the former site of the Axel Springer publishing house, Momeni Group is realizing a new building with offices, apartments, commercial units and restaurants designed by architects von Gerkan, Marg and Partners (gmp), and the existing historic listed high-rise building is being refurbished and upgraded to current energy conservation standards.

08/05/2019Architecture and fashion in dialog

Shop facade in Shanghai

The flagship store of the ICICLE fashion label opened in Shanghai at the end of 2018. The architects von Gerkan, Marg and Partners (gmp) were commissioned to design the two-story shop facade. The most important design element consists of a curtain of 800 porcelain tubes made in the traditional Chinese way.

07/05/2019Filling the gap at the Nikolaifleet

Construction starts on the Cremon 1 residential and commercial building

Based on a 2016 feasibility study, the architects von Gerkan, Marg and Partners (gmp), in cooperation with developers Quest Investment Partners, were able to persuade the City of Hamburg to develop a residential and commercial building on the vacant plot at Cremon 1. With construction work having started in April 2019, it will now be possible to fill this site in the old city that has been vacant for a long time. In future, Cremon 1, together with the Haus der Seefahrt opposite, will once again form the portal that marks the entrance to the Fleet.

30/04/2019Wuyuanhe Stadium, Haikou

A stadium with an ocean view by gmp

The 15-month construction schedule for the realization of Wuyuanhe Stadium on China’s popular holiday island of Hainan was tight – a challenge which, after having won the design competition, the architects of von Gerkan, Marg und Partners (gmp) were excited to take on. gmp managed to hand over the building designed for more than 41,000 visitors, on time for the opening in 2018. The proximity to the South China Sea characterizes the special atmosphere of the venue and provides the spectators with a unique panorama.

24/04/2019Hangzhou’s southern railway station

A new transport building by gmp

In Hangzhou, the new southern railway station built to a design by Architects von Gerkan, Marg and Partners (gmp) is starting operations. It is the third-largest station of the metropolis which, thanks to its favorable geographic position on the Yangtze River Delta, flourished culturally at an early stage and to this day is considered one of the most attractive cities in China. The transport intersection is part of the high-speed line between Shanghai, 180 kilometers away, and Kunming at a distance of 1,800 kilometers, and was built within the space of five years (2013–2018).

27/03/2019Sustainable office building in Ho Chi Minh City

The German House sets new standards in Vietnam with its innovative facade

On March 26, 2019, Peter Altmaier, Federal Minister of Economics, and Pham Bình Minh, the Vietnamese Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Foreign Affairs, ceremonially opened the German House, which was built to a design by gmp. The building is located in District 1, the commercial and cultural...

15/03/2019Hengli International Building

gmp wins competition for new company building in Shenzhen

Shenzhen is growing: a new business district called “Super Bay City” is being created. In the competition for the Hengli Investment Group the architects von Gerkan, Marg and Partners (gmp) submitted the winning design with a building complex consisting of three distinct blocks that are linked at the base. With a height of 250 meters, the Hengli International Building’s office tower with its adjacent conference center and “culture tower” forms an impressive landmark. “Sky gardens” at various levels provide a rhythm to the verticality of the soaring towers and are designed to be used as public amenity areas.

13/03/2019Prepared for everything

gmp completes training center for disaster management in Shanghai

With the Shanghai Public Safety Education Training Base, a new attraction has been created in the Oriental Land park in Shanghai: a training center where children and young people can learn how to behave correctly in dangerous situations. In response to this special building brief, the architects von Gerkan, Marg and Partners (gmp) have designed a sculptural complex of buildings. A parametrically designed facade consisting of diamond-shaped metal panels emphasizes the visual impact of the building and, depending on the angle of light, seems to merge the structure with the sky and the landscape.

08/02/2019Olympic Sports Center in Suzhou opened

Sports center with stadium, indoor arena and aquatics center completed

The Olympic Sports Center in Suzhou, built to a design by Architects von Gerkan, Marg and Partners (gmp), has now opened. In a 47 hectare publicly accessible landscape park, a stadium, training and leisure pool, indoor arena, shopping center and extensive sports facilities for the surrounding residential areas have been completed. For the very first time in China, a single-skin cable network roof construction has been used to cover the large sports buildings. With their curved roofs, the buildings form a distinct ensemble and a new center of that part of the city.

05/02/2019Welcome to the Chinese year of the pig!

gmp wishes a pleasant start to everyone!

The new Chinese year "Ben Ming Nian" is dedicated to the pig.

Diligence, compassion, generousity and devotion characterize a person born with this zodiac sign.

Regardless of the year in which you are born, we wish you all the best for the next 365 days!

25/01/2019Kulturpalast Dresden wins DAM Preis 2019

gmp honored for the refurbishment and conversion with concert hall

With the DAM Preis 2019 for architecture in Germany, the jury showed its appreciation for the reconstruction of an outstanding building in the Moderne style of the GDR in line with conservation principles and praised the new concept by Architects von Gerkan, Marg and Partners (gmp). The converted building is home to the new concert hall for the Dresden Philharmonic Orchestra, amongst others, the new central library, and the “Herkuleskeule” cabaret venue. Meinhard von Gerkan and Stephan Schütz, together with Nicolas Pomränke and Christian Hellmund, will receive the award from the German Museum of Architecture (DAM) at the awards ceremony on January 25, 2019 in Frankfurt.

17/12/20182018 Architecture Prize of the BDA Hamburg for three gmp projects

Extension of the Gebrüder Heinemann company headquarters at 1st prize

On December 6, 2018, Volkwin Marg together with the gmp team received the awards from the Association of German Architects (BDA) during an official awards ceremony. In addition to a 1st prize for the office building project at Hamburg’s HafenCity, the Architects von Gerkan, Marg and Partners (gmp) received a 3rd prize for the Gyula-Trebitsch School in Hamburg-Tonndorf, as well as a special mention for the garden pavilion building housing a library.

06/12/2018Bon voyage!

Official opening of the new Elbbrücken Underground station

On December 6, 2018, the new Elbbrücken Underground station of the U4 line will be ceremonially opened. The station was designed by gmp in cooperation with the structural engineers schlaich bergermann partner (sbp). Located at the Elbbrücken bridges at the end of the new HafenCity district, the Underground station with its conspicuous roof construction is a milestone in the development of HafenCity. From December 7, 2018, all visitors to HafenCity can, for the first time, arrive at the new stop and view the growing HafenCity vista from the platform at the Elbe River.

28/11/2018Living and working in the Bogenviertel

gmp wins urban design competition for Bietigheim-Bissingen

The architects von Gerkan, Marg and Partners (gmp) produced a town-planning design for the precinct of Deutsche Linoleum-Werke (DLW) in Bietigheim-Bissingen, which nestles into the grown urban structure and combines new forms of living and working with conventional typologies. The idea is to create owner-occupied homes, affordable housing for rent, as well as special forms of housing such as living/working accommodation, studios, and small apartments. The concept includes longish building blocks along the railway tracks and the main road that screen the new quarter from the considerable noise from these sources.

14/11/2018Caohejing Xinzhou Plaza

A Commercial Building by gmp

In the Chinese metropolis Shanghai, another project for the Shanghai Caohejing Hi-Tech Park Development Corp. has been completed to a design by von Gerkan, Marg and Partners Architects (gmp). Influenced by the specific conditions of the place, the dynamic of the passing traffic, the crisscrossing pathways and visual relationships, the building symbolically contributes to the urban development of this originally industrial part of the city. Xinzhou Plaza has been conceived as a prismatic glass volume bearing on monumental pilotis—a building with an experimental character that makes its architectural mark.

18/10/2018Art & Culture under one roof

Completion of Tianjin Binhai Cultural Center by gmp

The Binhai Cultural Center at Tianjin, the metropolis in the east of China, which includes five cultural buildings by international architects, has been created to a masterplan by Architects von Gerkan, Marg and Partners (gmp). With the concept of a roofed-over cultural concourse, gmp has created a specific typology for this unique project. The inverted umbrella-like structures are a distinct architectural element and unify the art and cultural buildings that were designed by different architectural practices.

04/09/2018Guangxi Culture & Art Center

Venue for cultural events, and new landmark of Nanning, China

The Guangxi Culture & Art Center in the Nanning metropolis in southern China has been ceremonially opened. Following the completion of similar projects in Tianjin, Chongqing und Qingdao, this is the fourth grand theater to be completed by von Gerkan, Marg and Partners (gmp) in China. Nanning, the capital of Guangxi province, now has the benefit of this type of venue which, with its wide-ranging cultural events program, is very popular in China and thus adds to the city’s attractiveness. Following the completion of Nanning’s trade exhibition and conference center, this is gmp’s second building for the city that adds its distinct appearance to the city’s skyline.

16/08/2018Play of Light and Shadow

Chao Hotel Beijing in a New Cloak

The new facade by von Gerkan, Marg and Partners Architects (gmp) imparts a lightness and a sculptural effect to the modernized hotel tower, which can be seen from afar. Its angled vertical elements and the alternating closed and glazed panels create a play of light and shadow. Horizontal ledges are inserted every two stories, thus creating a calm facade geometry with balanced proportions. In addition to the external envelope, gmp designed the multifunctional “Glasshouse” to add a venue with a special atmosphere to the hotel complex.

16/07/2018Recreation areas in the vertical

Zhengzhou twin towers by gmp completed

The Greenland Towers soar 284 meters into the sky above Zhengzhou metropolis in eastern China. The sil- houettes of the towers are characterized by the sky lobbies, recesses that are inserted offset at various levels. Designed as public spaces in the vertical, the sky lobbies are prestigious amenity areas for the offices, providing the unusual experience of being able to enjoy an outside terrace at a height of up to 240 meters. In total, the Greenland Central Plaza complex, which was built to plans by Architects von Gerkan, Marg and Partners (gmp), comprises about 746,000 square meters of gross floor area.

02/07/2018Behind the scenes

Rehearsal Stage Center of the Deutsche Theater in Berlin officially opened

The Deutsche Theater in Berlin has put its new Rehearsal Stage Center into operation. The new building designed by the architects von Gerkan, Marg and Partners fits snugly into the courtyard of the theater and respectfully complements the adjoining listed buildings. In spite of its slender exterior appearance, the build- ing accommodates three rehearsal stages in the exact dimensions of the original stages in the main theater. For the first time, the rehearsals of the DT can take place at one central location, thereby optimizing the logistical processes in the various workshops.

14/06/2018Krasnodar FC Stadium

A football arena in the south of Russia

Besides the venues for this year’s World Cup, Krasnodar Stadium is one of the newest stadium buildings in Russia. In dialogue with the client, gmp ∙ Architects von Gerkan, Marg and Partners have developed the building from the urban design aspects through to the last detail, throughout the design and construction period. The result is a high-quality football arena to UEFA guidelines that provides a unique experience to spectators: whereas from the outside there is a reference to the amphitheater of antiquity as the generic type of venue for all modern stadiums, on the inside the world’s first 360 degree screen of its kind offers new opportunities for media display.

30/05/2018New “city within the city” officially celebrates its opening in Mannheim

The Kunsthalle shows its artworks for the first time in the new building

Subsequent to the new building of the Kunsthalle Mannheim being handed over to the city and its citizens in an official ceremony at the end of 2017, a three-day grand opening follows at the beginning of June. With the artworks, which have moved into the various exhibition areas of the old and new buildings during the last months, the intended coexistence of art, architecture, and urban landscape can be experienced as designed by the architects von Gerkan, Marg and Partners.

07/05/2018Off to the great celebration via the new bridge

gmp brings pedestrians and cyclists across the Baakenhafen basin

Last weekend, the Baaken Park in HafenCity was officially opened with a two-day opening fair. For the first time, numerous visitors used the new Baakenhafenbrücke to reach the park. The slender steel construction is the result of a competition initiated by the HafenCity Hamburg GmbH, which was won in 2013 by architects von Gerkan, Marg and Partners (gmp) in cooperation with structural engineers Knippers Helbig from Stuttgart.

02/05/2018Innovation campus in landscape park

gmp wins competition for science complex in Suzhou

By 2020, an innovation campus with offices and laboratories for young companies in the high-tech field will be developed in Suzhou, the eastern Chinese metropolis. The total of 330,000 square meters of gross floor area is provided in five building clusters of different sizes, which are arranged offset from each other around a park and lake landscape. In the spring of 2018, the design by Architects von Gerkan, Marg and Partners (gmp) and WES landscape architects won first prize in the competition for the project.

27/04/2018Modular interim concert hall for the Munich Philharmonic Orchestra

gmp commissioned with design of Gasteig interim

From 2020, the Gasteig Cultural Centre in Munich will move to an interim location in Munich Sendling for the five year refurbishment period. As a result of a two-stage negotiated procedure, gmp has been commissioned to design the new temporary concert hall and the conversion of the adjoining hall E. The practice’s design combines an effective, sustainable, modular building method with the requirements of an acoustically sophisticated concert hall for the Munich Philharmonic Orchestra and many other artists and guest orchestras.

28/03/2018Europe’s largest polycarbonate roof over the historic Śląski stadium

gmp has completed the conversion of the sports venue in Chorzów, Poland

In the cultural and recreational park in Chorzów, Poland, the architects von Gerkan, Marg and Partners (gmp) have converted the Śląski stadium. Yesterday it has been officially inaugurated by a friendly match: On Tuesday, March 27, the Polish national squad played against Southkorea’s national team. With the completion of the venue the Silesian province has been given a new sports venue for track and field competitions to international standard.

13/03/2018A spacious world of work in a high-density development in Chengdu

Foundation stone ceremony for new corporate head office of JD.com

The foundation stone ceremony for the new head office of the online trader Jingdong (JD.com) took place at Chengdu, the commercial metropolis in western China, at the end of 2017. The building was designed by Architects von Gerkan, Marg and Partners (gmp), who won the international competition in the previous year.

13/12/2017The New City in the City

Official handover of the new Kunsthalle Mannheim building on 18 December 2017

After a construction period of about two-and-a-half years, the new building of Kunsthalle Mannheim will be handed over to the city and its citizens on 18 December 2017. The design by the architects von Gerkan, Marg and Partners (gmp) is for one of the currently largest museum buildings in Germany which, with its unmistakable appearance, confidently stands amongst the neighboring buildings.

06/11/2017New Urbanity at Nordhafenplatz in Berlin’s Europacity

gmp wins competition for mixed-use areas in Quartier Heidestrasse

In the Heidestrasse precinct within the new Europacity district near Berlin’s central station, mixed-use areas MI 1 and 2 will be built by architects von Gerkan, Marg and Partners (gmp). The two city blocks frame Nordhafenplatz, the square at Nordhafen (north harbor) that will form the urban center of the emerging neighborhood.