In the year 2000, the City of Nanning held a competition for the design of a gateway into the city, to be experienced after visitors had left the main freeway and passed through the adjacent tollgates. But none of the submitted designs were approved. However, six months later Denton Corker Marshall was commissioned with the task. Keen to promote the image of a ‘green’ city, Nanning Bureau of Planning wished to incorporate the concept of a flower into the gateway.

This led to the idea of presenting one vibrant red steel flower-like structure on each of the roadside grass banks that incoming, and outgoing, drivers would pass through. As an urban sculpture, the Nanning Gateway is a strong statement for visitors arriving into the city. Two monumental abstract flowers along the main freeway provide a dynamic and memorable entry that surprises the traveller as they pass through into the city.

In a twist to its perception, however, the right-hand flower slowly deconstructs itself into a series of individual petal elements that come out of the cutting on the side of the road, transforming the gateway from a static experience into one which involves interplay of space and time, and which provides a memorable entrance to the city. It gently separates themselves as the driver passes over the crest of the hill and Nanning comes into view.

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