Yibin High-Speed Railway Station Gateway Sichuan Province, China building project, Chinese architecture development

Yibin High-Speed Railway Station Gateway in Sichuan Province

13 January 2026

Design: Pelli Clarke & Partners

Location: Sichuan Province, China

Renders: Pelli Clarke & Partners

Yibin High-Speed Railway Station Gateway, Sichuan Province, China

Pelli Clarke & Partners Complete Yibin High-Speed Railway Station Gateway Development in Sichuan Province

Designed to draw from the region’s bamboo forests and karst landscape, the transit-oriented development celebrates the city’s geography and ecological heritage.

Global architecture practice Pelli Clarke & Partners has completed the Yibin High-Speed Rail Station Gateway Development, a nearly 9-million square-foot district that redefines the city’s identity from a layover station to an urban destination in western China. The transformative plan introduces a dynamic urban center organized around a high-speed rail station and features eight mixed-use towers, a central park, digital art museum and a vibrant retail and cultural district.

Set against the backdrop of Yibin’s distinctive hilly terrain and the Shunan Bamboo Forest – China’s largest and oldest bamboo national park – the design draws from the region’s landscape and ecological character. The scheme’s massing has been created in response to the neighboring landforms, echoing the virtues of interconnectivity, resilience, and adaptability associated with the bamboo plant and its rhizomatic root system. The development integrates Yibin’s natural waterways and topography to create a walkable, car-free district considering pedestrian circulation and the daily needs of a growing community.

“Yibin represents a bold vision for a city, one that is deeply connected to its landscape, culture, and people,” said David Chen, Partner, Pelli Clarke & Partners. “Our design expresses a living relationship between nature and the built environment, creating a place that can evolve, grow, and inspire.”

The master plan incorporates green roofs, planted terraces and open-air pedestrian streets that emulate the layers of the forest floor. Central to the design is a cluster of eight sculptural towers inspired by the form and resilience of bamboo, designed by Pelli Clarke & Partners in collaboration with SADI, the local architect of record. Their composition, ranging from 23 to 33 stories, is grouped in rhythmic bundles with curvature and vertical articulation that reinterpret bamboo-style calligraphy from local cultural history into a contemporary façade expression.

A central park, designed to maintain the area’s original topography, weaves together multiple layers of pedestrian paths, elevated walkways, and planted canopies. The park’s architectural focus is a new digital art museum, distinguished by its sculptural facade clad in aluminum panels, which also serves as an innovative structural mesh shell resulting in large column-free exhibition spaces. The museum’s flexible galleries are designed to host rotating exhibitions that celebrate digital innovation, art, and Yibin’s cultural identity.
The 505,000-square-foot high-speed rail station, designed by China No.2 Railway Design Institute in collaboration with China Southwest Architectural Design Institute, provides long-distance and local transit connectivity between Chengdu, Chongqing, Guiyang, and Kunming.

The Yibin Master Plan represents a bold step in redefining what an urban destination can be, fusing sustainability, cultural identity and architectural innovation. With its strategic location and future-forward design, Yibin is poised to become a model of transformative urban growth, leveraging its unprecedented high-speed railway network.

Art Museum, Yibin Master Plan by Pelli Clarke & Partners | Image credit: Pelli Clarke & Partners

The project’s sustainability strategies include facade systems that incorporate fresh-air ventilation, rain canopies, and abundant daylighting with low solar heat gain, along with living roofs throughout the development. Several retail buildings use the first planar truss structure consisting of reconstituted bamboo in Sichuan Province.

About Pelli Clarke & Partners
Pelli Clarke & Partners – https://pcparch.com/ designs buildings and spaces that inspire and transform communities worldwide. Based in New Haven and New York City, partners lead interdisciplinary teams of architects, designers, and technical experts across the globe. The firm’s portfolio of work includes iconic buildings such as the Petronas Towers in Kuala Lumpur, Pacific Design Center in West Hollywood, and Salesforce Transit Center in San Francisco. From its founding in 1977, Cesar Pelli instilled a culture of creativity and innovation, and the firm proudly carries this legacy forward by designing new possibilities for living, working, and learning in a changing world. To learn more, visit www.pcparch.com and follow @pelliclarkeandpartners on social media.