Shanghai Daily News

With recent completion of the first-phase reconstruction, a once dilapidated industrial yard along the Huangpu River in Yangpu District has taken on a new look and brought its founder, an acclaimed Taiwanese designer, one step closer to his dream of creating paradise for the design industry.
Shanghai riverside Design Industry Park is located at the home of city's largest industrial zone during the foreign settlement era and will become an international design service base incorporating various sectors of the design industry such as architecture, fashion and software design upon completion in two years, according to its founder.
As for his design, the reconstructed industry yard with a floor space of 20,000 square meters will be a platform for international, especially Asian Pacific design professionals, to swap experience and a workshop to foster a new generation of designers.
Comprehensive facilities will help to build up an efficient and comfortable working environment.
The park will offer designers everything they need in a community of their own, including different sizes of offices and conference halls, PR service, industrial administration, hotels and restaurants.
Teng kunyen, the 54-year-old designer who relocated in the city 15 years ago, said he was infatuated with the seemingly shabby warehouses and plants, which he felt could be rehabilitated for other use such as modern design studios.
"Great men are successful as they have dreams. Maybe what's in my mind is only wishful thinking, yet I want to do something for design talents who share the same dream," said Teng.
The passion for design and the worship of the city's past glory has run in his blood since his early years and led the agriculturist-turned designer to Shanghai where he thought his dreams lay.
After eight years of merely pacing around the city and observing local's ordinary lives, Teng finally figured out the approach to realizing his dream.
He called it "riverside trio" which is composed of three prospective projects on revitalizing cultural heritage along major waterways of Shanghai and its vicinity.
The first project of the trio proved to be a remarkable success. When the most avant-garde fashion shows and parties were held at the reconstructed granaries by Suzhou Creek, which had been deserted for years, Teng's outstanding design skills and fabulous creativity won him an immediate reputation.
Teng said the Riverside Design Industry Park and his next project, which involves restoring the original look of suburban farming areas, must achieve more splendor.
In particular, he raised the funds for all the ongoing projects on his own.
"I am not a businessman. I am doing  all this for fun," he said.
The local government fully approved Teng's idea of protecting cultural heritage and provided due support to these projects.
"We take it as a precious opportunity to vitalize this traditional industry area in a bid to build a wholly new Yangpu," said Jiang Yue, deputy manager of Yangpu Science and Technology Development Company.
As construction of the park forges ahead, some world famous designers have expressed interest in the project.
Stretching 15.5 kilometers, the bank of the Hungpu River in Yangpu was the cradle of Shanghai's textile and public utility industries. This area has gradually been deserted since the early 1990s when these industries underwent reform and left a great number of old plants out of use.