ISABELLE LEE
Multidisciplinary Designer &  Strategist


→ Currently
At the Harvard University Graduate School of Design  
A Design Researcher at the MIT AgeLab
Member of the 2025-26 Climate Leaders at Harvard University

→ Previously
Architectural Designer turned Creative Strategist.

Shaped by radical speculation at Cook Haffner (Peter Cook, Archigram), ecological rigor at Henning Larsen, social impact at TEN-Arquitectos, and experiential storytelling at Rockwell Group. I bring a multi-lens strategic lens to complex, human-centered design challenges.

Imaginative spirit cultivated at the Rhode Island School of Design


About
CV
Work
Case Studies
The Field

SHENZHEN NORTH RAILWAY Designing for Connection in an Accelerated World
Project Details

Location
Shenzhen, China

Timeline
10 Weeks

Typology
Transit Oriented District
5,000,000m2

Team
Henning Larsen Architects
Design Director
Managing Partner
Senior Associate
Lead Design Architect
Junior Designer

Role
Project Lead
Design Strategy Lead

Responsibilities
Stakeholder Engagement
Technical Coordination
Urban Strategy
Sustainability Strategy






Overview


 The Challenge

Shenzhen North is one of the most connected locations in the city, yet it functions primarily as a pass-through infrastructure rather than a place. Despite massive daily passenger volumes, the existing masterplan fragments public space, isolates green areas, and positions civic life adjacent to traffic-heavy edges.

The challenge is to transform a high-speed rail hub into a true urban center.The Approach

Invert the conventional station-centered masterplan.
Anchor the district with a central hub, framed by civic, cultural, and innovation programs. Extend nature outward through green corridors and stepped valleys, shaping a porous, human-scaled urban fabric. Finally, layer a multi-dimensional pedestrian network that connects seamlessly to the station and surrounding neighborhoods. The Impact

A people-first urban center where a central hub transforms Shenzhen North from a transit node into a destination. By integrating mobility, ecology, and public life, the project balances high-density connectivity with human scale, walkability, and everyday comfort—establishing a flexible, future-ready model for a Transit Oriented District where nature becomes an active part of urban life

Urban Performance at a Glance

50%
Reduction in Thermal Stress
21%
Increase in Comfortable Days
60%
Decrease in Solar Heat Gain
35%
Increased Connectivity
21–70%
Peak Hour Utilization
75%
Run-Off Detained
Improved microclimate through shading, greenery, and air movement enhances outdoor comfort across seasons.

 Climate-responsive design extends the number of days suitable for outdoor activity and public life.

 Building orientation, terracing, and landscape integration significantly reduce heat absorption and cooling demand.




From 8%  to 43% of the local population served within a 5-minute catchment. Maintains 30–80% spare capacity to balance high-efficiency transfers with long-term growth, comfort, and operational resilience. Landscape and blue-green infrastructure retain stormwater on site, reducing flood risk and supporting urban ecology.
Design

Project Goals

1. Pedestrian-First Urban Mobility
Pedestrian priority is positioned as the structuring logic of the transport hub, not an add-on. The project reallocates space, time, and comfort to slow mobility. We designed the district to shorten walking distances, improve microclimate, and reduce vertical and horizontal friction across daily journeys.

2. Integrating Transport, Ecology, and Public Life The masterplan’s four green corridors, three valleys, and one civic heart are reinterpreted as an active urban system. Instead of locating green space at the perimeter, the project inverts the conventional layout by placing the park at the center, framed and activated by public programs. This approach transforms movement corridors into lived landscapes and stitches mobility, ecology, and daily public life into a continuous spatial experience.

3. A Resilient and Adaptable Urban Core
Public space is conceived as an operating platform capable of hosting new forms of activity, innovation, and collective use as the city evolves. Rather than fixing a single image of urban life, the project establishes spatial conditions that allow future behaviors, technologies, and social practices to emerge.


Exterior Visualization


Strategic Design Framework

Urban Development Strategies







Exterior Rendering

Exterior Rendering


Mobility As-a-Service (MaaS)

In a high-density, multi-modal hub like Shenzhen North, Mobility as a Service is not about adding new transport modes, but about orchestrating existing ones into a seamless, people-centered system.

MaaS acts as a single mobility interface that integrates high-speed rail, metro, bus, ride-hailing, micromobility, and future autonomous services into one coordinated experience. Rather than fragmenting travel across multiple platforms and tickets, MaaS simplifies decision-making, reduces friction, and enables more inclusive access to mobility.




Curated User Experiences








Exterior Rendering

Exterior Rendering


Nature Based Solutions


The district is shaped as a climate-responsive landscape, where architecture, infrastructure, and ecology work together as a single system.

At ground and elevated levels, nature is integrated into everyday movement. Large overhangs, solar trellises, and shaded walkways reduce solar exposure while supporting evapotranspiration. Elevated pedestrian routes connect seamlessly to the station, retail, and surrounding developments, offering a continuous, climate-protected journey.

Below, a porous landscape of pocket parks, rain gardens, bioswales, and permeable paving manages stormwater while creating a layered public realm. Water is slowed, filtered, and absorbed on site. The design supports urban ecology, reducing runoff, and reinforcing the valley as both environmental infrastructure and a social space.



Blue-Green Networks
A climate-responsive blue–green network transforms water, wind, and shade into active urban systems that reduces flood risk, lowers thermal stress, and creates comfortable, livable public spaces year-round.





Key Insights

Center-Making as a Primary Design Move


The project treats center-making as an intentional act rather than a byproduct of connectivity. By inverting the conventional station-led layout and placing a Green Heart at the core, the masterplan establishes a clear spatial hierarchy that concentrates civic life, anchors identity, and aligns movement, program, and landscape.
Human Scale Balances High-Speed Connectivity with Daily Urban Life

Massing, porosity, and pedestrian networks are used as strategic tools to reconcile high-speed mobility with lived urban experience. By breaking density into village-scale clusters and prioritizing climate-protected walking, the project enables a TOD that is both globally connected and locally experienced.



Nature as Urban Infrastructure

By integrating green and blue systems from the outset, nature becomes a core value proposition of the TOD. The masterplan improves climate performance, enhances everyday comfort, and transforms transit-oriented density into a more livable urban experience. Embracing Slowness as Operational Efficiency


By designing moments of pause—walkable routes, shaded paths, and attractive public spaces—the district distributes movement more evenly across infrastructure, reducing peak pressure and improving system performance.

Gallery

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