The partial revision to the detailed regulatory plan for Block 67 (HK285) of the North Bund has recently received official approval. Covering approximately 2.7 hectares, the site will adopt a brand new positioning: while preserving its historical and cultural heritage, it will introduce mixed R&D and residential functions to build an open ended mixed use block integrating science technology innovation, exchange and daily living.
Bounded by Xinjian Road to the east, East Changzhi Road to the south, Shangqiu Road to the west and Tangshan Road to the north, Block 67 (HK285) sits close to International Cruise Terminal Station of Metro Line 12. It occupies a key spot in the core North Bund area where the riverside belt stretches inland.
The former Lester Technical Institute, built in 1934, stands within the block. As a Shanghai Excellent Historical Building, it endows the neighbourhood with profound scientific and innovative cultural roots.
Leveraging its exceptional location and cultural assets, the new plan moves beyond simple functional stacking. Instead, it establishes a compact and intensive spatial system featuring “R&D — exchange — living — shared amenities”.
Industry: Building full chain sci-tech innovation venues
The area will host diverse spaces for R&D offices, industrial incubation, achievement exhibitions, conferences and talent services, forming a closed loop innovation ecosystem. It will attract sci-tech enterprises and innovative teams, facilitate on-site integration of technological research and industrial commercialisation, and strengthen the North Bund’s capacity to accommodate innovation-driven industries.
Residential: High quality housing for sci tech talents
The planned residential floor area within the block totals around 47,000 square metres.
Residential towers will be arranged in a vertical compact layout to maximise unbroken open ground space. The permeable, publicly accessible block encourages strolling and lingering for city residents. Upper floors of the residential towers command unobstructed skyline views over the Huangpu River, the Bund and Lujiazui, filling the gap in residential amenities for professionals in the core North Bund district. Proximity to the metro enables seamless connections among work, daily life and commuting.
Spatial design: Al-hour open block blending old and new
The entire block features fully open public interfaces. Newly-built sci-tech innovation buildings and residential towers are designed in coordination with the onsite historical structure. Architectural scale, facade materials and public passages are carefully calibrated to create stylistic dialogue between old and new constructions.
Industrial operations, everyday residence and cultural visits interweave to form a dynamically active urban hub vibrant day and night.
Convergence of location, culture and functions creates the site’s one-of-a-kind value: a core North Bund hub, revitalisable century old heritage architecture, and rare mixed-use sci-tech plus residential zoning in central urban Shanghai. Concentrated within merely 2.7 hectares, these resources yield an irreplicable urban-renewal prototype.
More than a landmark heritage building, the former Lester Technical Institute marks the origin of the area’s innovation spirit.
Henry Lester was a prominent architect, engineer and philanthropist in early-modern Shanghai. Upon his death, he bequeathed his entire estate to support local educational and medical welfare causes, giving rise to the Lester Technical Institute. Offering core engineering disciplines including architecture, civil engineering, machinery and electrical engineering, it ranked among Shanghai’s representative engineering institutes of the last century. Its architecture merges Gothic Revival and Art Deco styles. It was designated one of Shanghai’s Second Batch of Excellent Historical Buildings in 1994.
Renovated and reopened in 2022, the compound now houses the Shanghai Institute of Innovation & Creative Design. Master studios, joint industrial laboratories, interdisciplinary innovation accelerators and public exchange workshops have been successively set up. Far from being a static memorial museum, the century-old engineering site has evolved into a cutting edge platform for design innovation practice.
The latest regulatory plan fully respects local historical context. It treats the heritage building as the cultural anchor of the whole block, arranging various sci-tech innovation facilities around the former Lester Technical Institute. This fosters tangible spatial and industrial interplay between historical legacy and modern industries, embedding scientific and technological innovation as an inherent trait of the neighbourhood dating back to 1934.
From the 1934 technical institute, to today’s innovation-design hub, and onward to the future mixed-use R&D-residential block, Block 67 weaves a nearly century-long thread of innovation into the North Bund’s new chapter of development.