The area, now occupied by abandoned textile factories and residential buildings, in the near future (construction is scheduled to start in 2011) will become a modern area with commercial and residential development, vast public spaces, parks, entertainment and sports facilities. This zone, called "Keqiao Water City", is oriented towards the neighboring large city of Hangzhou, and even farther - towards Shanghai, although Shaoxing itself has 3 million inhabitants.
When creating the master plan, KCAP architects were guided by natural and man-made objects existing on the territory entrusted to them: two lakes, a network of canals and roads, bridges and green areas, picturesque rocks. Thus, it was possible to create not a development plan interspersed with recreational areas, but a general "canvas" of the landscape, where buildings and parks are closely interconnected by squares, streets, and pedestrian paths.
There will be two centers in Keqiao. One of them is the lake's coastal strip, occupied by public spaces, a hotel, commercial buildings and an "alternative" residential area. The main residential area will receive its own center, in the western part of the district: it will be a concentration of public functions of a “local” scale, opposed to the scope of the lakeside zone.
