Steel and Soul

Once ablaze for a hundred years, Shougang Steelworks witnessed the rise of China's heavy industry and the sweeping transformation of its urban landscape. Though the furnaces have now fallen silent, what remains is more than just concrete and steel—it is the collective memory of generations of workers and their families.

Steel and Soul is a cultural landscape regeneration project that seeks to reconcile the physical legacy of industrial relics with the emotional weight they carry. Through a spatial narrative guided by both the “production line” and the “family timeline,” the design transforms the vast site into a sequence of experiential zones: preserved blast furnaces become museums, echo walls invite interaction, reflection pools honor memory, and lawns and corridors support daily recreation and community engagement.

The design goes beyond structural reuse to emphasize public participation, emotional resonance, and spatial storytelling. Each node—whether it’s a climbing wall, a timeline corridor, or a silent sculpture—evokes the rhythm of industrial life and the quiet dignity of those who shaped it.

Rather than preserving the site as a frozen artifact, Steel and Soul reawakens it as a breathing space—one that invites people to remember, reflect, and reclaim. This project is not merely a response to the past, but a framework for the future—a dialogue between the city and its people, between what once was and what could still become.

Steel and Soul tells a shared story—of industry, of family, and of a future forged from memory.