Tongzhou, once named in the sense of ‘transporting water by canal’, is about to become a city of the millennium. A series of keywords, such as blue and green, fresh and bright, and cultural heritage, define the tone of this millennium city.

Songzhuang Xiaobao Art District, which straddles the boundary of the sub-centre, is an important cultural node on the north side of the sub-centre. Taking into account the conditions of the site, we propose the idea of creating an ‘art field’ in the vision of the sub-centre, which will ensure that the Songzhuang Xiaobao Art District will have sustained vitality, distinctive characteristics and a healthy base during the millennium development of the sub-centre, in terms of industry, habitat and ecology.

Industry plan - from artist colony to art colony; drawing on the development history of art districts with high-quality locations in metropolises around the world, to build a complete industrial chain for Songzhuang Xiaobao Art District; Habitat plan - from art colony to art habitat; expanding the ‘courtyard’ and ‘ecology’ concepts. Habitat Plan - from art colony to art habitat; expanding the cultural significance of ‘courtyard’, the traditional spatial archetype in the north, and making it a representative carrier of the habitat culture of the sub-centre; at the same time, significantly expanding the public communication function of the streets and lanes. Eco-programme - from artistic habitat to artistic wilderness; the plan controls that no less than 30% of the open space in the courtyards will be permanent. The multi-level courtyards and the flowing northern plains form the ‘loose and porous’ ecological structure of the art plains.