Xiangfuli, as one of the most important city renewal projects of Hangzhou in recent years, boasts Xiangfu Bridge, a national-grade relic enjoying a history that can be dated back to about 800 years ago. Inheriting the canal culture of the Song Dynasty, Xiangfuli has become an old industrial zone and the joint of city and outskirts in the modern and contemporary history, where residents live by water and original buildings are built along the river, forming a lined-up downtown street pattern along the Wulitang River. Old streets and lanes there permeate strong flavor of rural life, while the block is congested and lacks sustainable development potential in space.

The architects managed to make the renewal plan a template of city renewal projects in China, stimulating vitality on the basis of maintaining the “marketplace” style. The architects expected to blend historical memory with modern life style at Xiangfuli to provide high quality public space for the surrounding cities, while attracting visitors to inject new vitality to the old block.
The architects have put forward three concepts of “space integration, business integration and time integration”, focusing on the feasibility and permeability of the block space to satisfy the needs of full-time commercial and cultural activities conducted here. Through typological analysis of traditional “marketplace” space, multiple dimensions of “court”, “yard”, “street”, “lane”, “terrace” and “garden” are organized in the block as a characteristic space and carrier of traditional memory. 

The renewal plan was aimed to create a waterfront vitality zone along Wulitang River to penetrate into the cultural blocks on the north and south sides. Two footbridges were additionally built on the river, more than 70 meters away from Xiangfu Bridge, which are conductive to the visual protection of Xiangfu Bridge and strengthen communications between the north and south side. There are five historical buildings in this region. For seriously damaged buildings, the architects either maintained or rebuilt them at the original location, with new functions endowed. During the construction, contemporary architectural technology was applied to conform to the use principles of contemporary architecture. To meet the requirements of the community, schools and old people's home were newly built. In the design, the open path connecting the bottom and surrounding public space is emphasized to satisfy the function sharing, for example, the reading room and the auditorium of the primary school can be shared with the outside.

The renewal of Xiangfuli block was conducted in EPC general contract model. It is a meaningful attempt for large city renewal projects to have the design agency act as the project management as well.