[Photo/ZHA/ATCHAIN/Proloog]

Hangzhou is about to get a new neighbourhood.

Designed by Zaha Hadid Architects, the Qiantang Bay Cultural District will rise alongside the city's Zhedong Canal creating a 'green corridor' through what was once industrial land.

Alongside public spaces and parkland, the district will include a museum, music hall, youth center and library inspired by the region's 5,000-year history of jade artistry. 

Explaining its design, ZHA said: "The library incorporates a sequence of inhabitable architectural columns. Serving as structural support and defining the institute's identity as assembled 'stones of knowledge', these columns will accommodate the library's extensive literary collections and archives, as well as reading rooms and community spaces."

[Photo/ZHA/ATCHAIN/Proloog]