It is about the expansion of the Penang metropolitan area, centered in Georgetown, covering the east coast of Penang Island, to the south. So far, the southern coast is not fully urbanized (here there are hills covered with forests, where it is difficult to carry out construction), but this is where the international airport is located. The competition, which started at the end of 2019, was organized by the Penang state government and brought together eminent finalists: the bureau of Bjarke Ingels, Foster + Partners, MVRDV, UNStudio, as well as American specialists on similar master plans Tekuma Frenchman.
BIG's project, in collaboration with local architecture firm Hijjas and Ramboll engineers, is titled BiodiverCity: 1,821 hectares of parks and technology parks, convention centers, housing and public spaces. The authors place an emphasis on ecological principles and maintenance of biodiversity (as hinted at by the name of the masterplan).
The authors and customers of the project ignore the topic of large-scale reclamation works and active construction in the coastal zone and their impact on the natural environment, but they talk about creating ecological corridors for the movement of animals through the crowns of trees and along the water from the islands to Penang and back, about zero or even “negative energy consumption, recycling of resources and water, greenhouses and marine farms, use of bamboo, local wood and green concrete from industrial waste for construction. The assembly of prefabricated buildings will be combined with the use of robots and 3D printing, and all the networks on the islands will be managed by a smart system. The authors of the project also promise to reduce social and economic inequality among Penang residents.
BiodiverCity is presented as an alternative to the destructive urbanization of the island's coastal zone. The new development will consist of districts with a mixed program for 15-18 thousand inhabitants each and an area of 20-200 hectares. They will be separated by buffer water corridors 50–100 m wide, which will provide the connection between the natural zones of the new islands and Penang, which was mentioned above. They will be supported by parks, green roofs and walls of buildings and various intermediate forms of landscaping. In the center of each island, something like a lagoon is planned.
The Channels (or the Straits, The Channels) is the eastern island, where first a wave pool and a technopark will appear, then administrative and research institutions, and at the end - a "coast of culture". The center will be a 200 hectare digital park, where scientific, business and educational functions will be combined with a family-run amusement park dedicated to the latest technologies.
Mangroves, the central island, will get "urban wetlands" where mangroves should thrive, capable of storing carbon four times more efficiently than land forests. The function of the island is business, and in its center there will be a “Bamboo Lighthouse” for congresses and other public events.
The western island, Laguna, is given over to housing. In the middle there is a marina, around - islands of different sizes and configurations. Houses are either floating or piled, they have harbors for fishermen.
