Guangzhou, one of China’s historic port cities, has long drawn its identity from the Pearl River Delta — a place that shaped its role as both a transportation hub and a trading gateway. Today, however, rapid globalization and the city’s shift from waterfront to Central Business District (CBD) development have left much of its unique character at risk of being overshadowed by generic urban landscapes. The challenge is how to reclaim and redefine Guangzhou’s identity in a way that is both rooted in history and oriented toward the future.

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Our project site, Haixinsha Island, embodies this tension. Once the stage for the Guangzhou Asian Games, it now sits at the critical intersection of the CBD and the river — where old and new, land and water meet. Yet despite its privileged location, the island feels disconnected from its riverfront context. Visitors can cross the broad bridge without ever experiencing the water, and once on the island, dense trees and the absence of water-related programming limit its engagement with this defining axis of the city.

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This proposal reimagines Haixinsha as a symbolic and spatial connector — a place where the island’s relationship to both water and land is heightened through a monumental installation of mirrored “clouds.” Suspended above, these reflective surfaces reconnect the city and river visually and experientially, framing the site as a threshold rather than a leftover space. In an era of increasing urban homogeneity, this project demonstrates how site-specific design can help a city reclaim its identity, grounding it in its cultural past while projecting confidence toward a distinctive future.