Jialian Design Builds Corporate Brand Identity Through Merchants International Cruise City

Exploring How Golden A Design Award Winning Landscape Architecture Translates Corporate Vision into Immersive Brand Experiences

What happens when a corporation decides brand values should be something visitors can walk through, breathe in, and physically experience? The question of experiential brand expression drives one of the most fascinating intersections in contemporary design practice: the strategic use of landscape architecture as a vehicle for corporate identity communication. When organizations commission landscape projects, the organizations often seek functional outdoor spaces. The truly transformative opportunities emerge when the same organizations recognize that every pathway, every material selection, and every sightline can communicate what the organization represents and what the brand stands for.

Jialian Design confronted precisely the opportunity for experiential brand expression when working on the Merchants International Cruise City project in Zhanjiang City, Guangdong Province, China. The challenge proved delightful in the project's ambition: create a permanent demonstration area spanning 10,783 square meters that would simultaneously honor the maritime heritage of the South China Sea region, express the sailing spirit and expansive vision of a major corporate developer, and deliver an immersive journey that transforms visitors into participants in a brand narrative. Completed in September 2019 after roughly eleven months of development, the Merchants International Cruise City project earned the Golden A' Design Award in Landscape Planning and Garden Design in 2022, recognized for outstanding integration of corporate storytelling with environmental sensitivity.

For brands and enterprises exploring how physical spaces can amplify corporate identity, the Merchants International Cruise City project offers concrete lessons in translating abstract corporate values into tangible, memorable experiences. The mechanisms employed in the design extend far beyond decorative landscaping into strategic brand infrastructure.

The Strategic Foundation of Corporate Landscape Identity

Before examining design details, understanding why landscape architecture presents powerful opportunities for corporate expression proves helpful. Unlike a logo that appears on letterhead or a tagline repeated in advertisements, a landscape becomes an environment that envelops visitors completely. Every sensory channel becomes available for communication. The temperature of shade beneath specific tree species, the sound of water moving across designed surfaces, the visual rhythm of architectural elements against sky, the physical sensation of ascending or descending through terrain changes: all of the sensory elements combine to create impressions that bypass conscious evaluation and settle directly into memory.

For the Merchants International Cruise City project, Jialian Design faced a dual mandate. The first challenge involved reflecting the corporate culture of the developer while establishing brand confidence. The second challenge required ensuring that landscape and architecture would complement each other, with architectural forms achieving high visibility and impact. The two challenges intertwine because corporate identity in physical space succeeds when all elements work in harmony rather than competing for attention.

The design team approached the dual mandate by identifying core brand concepts that could translate into physical form. The sailing spirit and the philosophy of embracing all rivers provided the conceptual anchor. The sailing and maritime ideas carry specific visual and spatial implications: forward motion, horizontal expanse, fluidity, the meeting of elements, navigation through complexity toward destination. Each conceptual implication suggested design moves that could manifest throughout the 10,783 square meter site.

The foundational thinking matters enormously for any organization considering landscape as brand expression. Abstract values must be parsed into spatial implications before any design work can proceed meaningfully. The sailing spirit does not automatically suggest a particular paving pattern or plant palette. But the sailing spirit does suggest momentum, direction, horizon orientation, and the interplay between human intention and natural forces. The spatial implications become the design vocabulary.

Maritime Themes as Integrated Design Vocabulary

With conceptual foundations established, Jialian Design developed a comprehensive design vocabulary drawn from the South China Sea and local maritime traditions. The sea became the foundation, the river became the body, the boat became the shape, and waves became the pattern. The hierarchy of metaphor allowed designers to make consistent decisions at every scale, from overall site organization down to surface texture details.

The triangular architectural sculpture floating in water, visible immediately upon entering through the earth art valley, establishes the boat motif at monumental scale. The sculptural element accomplishes multiple objectives simultaneously. The sculpture creates a focal point that organizes visitor attention, introduces the maritime theme before any explanatory signage appears, and provides photographic opportunities that naturally spread brand imagery through visitor social media activity. The triangular form echoes throughout the project, creating visual continuity that reinforces the design concept at every encounter.

Wave patterns appear most prominently in the perforated aluminum plate corridors. The corridor elements deserve particular attention because the corridors demonstrate how technical material choices serve brand expression. The designers specified wave gray perforated aluminum with hollow patterns carved into the surfaces. During daylight, the corridors filter sunlight into shifting patterns that move with the sun angle. When night falls, the sparse lighting transforms the same structures into what the designers describe as tunnels of time and space, creating sensations of future possibility and technological sophistication.

The material choice exemplifies strategic thinking about brand communication through physical experience. The aluminum corridors do not merely reference waves as decoration. The corridors create dynamic light experiences that change throughout the day and across seasons, ensuring that repeat visitors encounter fresh visual experiences while the underlying design vocabulary remains consistent. The sense of future and science and technology that emerges from the nighttime lighting contributes to corporate positioning without requiring any explicit messaging.

For enterprises evaluating landscape projects, the Jialian Design approach offers important guidance. Effective corporate landscape design does not simply apply logos or brand colors to outdoor surfaces. Effective corporate landscape design identifies experiential qualities that align with brand positioning and then selects materials and configurations that generate those experiences organically.

Choreographing the Visitor Journey as Brand Narrative

Perhaps the most sophisticated aspect of the Merchants International Cruise City design involves the carefully sequenced journey visitors undertake from arrival to departure. The sequencing transforms a site visit into a narrative experience, with rising action, climax, and resolution paralleling the structure of compelling storytelling.

The earth art formations flanking the main entrance create an immediate sense of passage through a valley. The opening gesture serves multiple functions. The earth art announces arrival clearly, provides a sense of occasion appropriate to significant destinations, and creates the valley metaphor that positions the approaching visitor as a traveler entering new territory. The valley experience generates anticipation naturally, because valleys lead somewhere.

Emerging from the entrance valley, visitors encounter the water feature with the floating architectural sculpture. The revelation functions as the first major moment of the experience, the point where the maritime concept becomes explicit and the corporate identity begins to communicate directly. The triangular sculpture echoes the surrounding earth art forms, establishing visual coherence while introducing new elements.

Movement continues toward the canyon passages, where shade trees and aluminum corridors create transitional experiences. The canyon passages slow visitor pace, shift attention from distant views to immediate sensory engagement, and build anticipation for subsequent revelations. The covered corridors between canyons appear through guidance signage, creating moments of discovery that reward attentive navigation.

Entering and exiting the main building extends the metaphor of gaining the deck of a vessel. Visitors transition from landscape into architecture and back again, each threshold marking progression through the narrative. Beyond the building, a carefully composed forest environment creates contrast with earlier experiences. Simple understory plantings produce quiet, contemplative atmosphere that allows visitors to process the more dynamic experiences the visitors have encountered.

The waterscape between building and corridors forms a water bay, extending the maritime vocabulary while creating gathering opportunities. Plank road connections to seaside viewpoints allow visitors to enjoy both forest and waterfront experiences, providing natural circulation endpoints while maximizing the experiential range available within the site.

The narrative structure means that visitors leave having experienced a complete journey rather than a collection of unrelated outdoor moments. The journey format aligns beautifully with corporate identities centered on progress, navigation, and purposeful direction.

Environmental Integration as Corporate Responsibility Statement

Contemporary corporate identity increasingly requires demonstration of environmental awareness and responsibility. The Merchants International Cruise City project integrates ecological thinking throughout the design in ways that support the environmental dimension of brand communication without sacrificing aesthetic impact.

The undulating topography serves multiple environmental functions while contributing to the experiential qualities already discussed. The terrain variations create microclimate conditions that improve visitor comfort and reduce building energy requirements. The design research conducted by Jialian Design documented specific performance benefits: when outdoor air temperature exceeds 30 degrees Celsius with relative humidity below 70 percent, evaporation from water surfaces can reduce indoor air humidity significantly. The integration of water features with building performance transforms decorative landscape elements into functional infrastructure.

The sponge city concepts incorporated into the design address stormwater management through terrain engineering rather than conventional drainage infrastructure. The slope surfaces digest soil volumes while conducting organized drainage. The designers describe the terrain functioning like a sponge, allowing water to gather and spread across the site rather than concentrating in channels or overloading municipal systems.

The ecological features accomplish something valuable for corporate communication: the features demonstrate environmental responsibility through design intelligence rather than through applied green technology. The environmental benefits emerge from fundamental design decisions about terrain, water features, and planting rather than from photovoltaic panels or other visible technology additions. The integrated approach positions the corporate brand as thoughtfully connected with natural systems rather than as a conventional developer adding sustainability features to conventional development.

For organizations seeking to communicate environmental values through physical facilities, the integrated approach often proves more effective than technology-forward alternatives. Visitors experience the comfort and beauty that result from ecological design without necessarily recognizing the technical sophistication behind those experiences. The environmental responsibility becomes embedded in the brand impression rather than presented as separate messaging.

Creating Permanent Brand Assets Through Landscape Design

The Merchants International Cruise City project functions as a permanent demonstration area, meaning the landscape becomes an ongoing brand asset rather than a temporary installation or marketing expenditure. The permanence changes the strategic calculation for corporate landscape investment significantly.

Temporary marketing expenditures generate impressions during the active period and then depreciate entirely. A permanent landscape installation continues generating brand impressions for decades, with maintenance costs representing a small fraction of initial investment. The compound effect of thousands of visitor experiences accumulating over years creates brand value that temporary marketing cannot match.

The design decisions made by Jialian Design specifically support long-term value creation. The material selections favor durability and graceful aging over trendy finishes that might appear dated within a few years. The perforated aluminum corridors will develop surface character over time while maintaining structural integrity. The plant materials will mature, creating increasingly established landscape character that communicates institutional permanence and stability.

The photographic qualities of the site support ongoing brand communication through visitor-generated content. When visitors photograph the sculptural architecture reflected in water, the dramatic corridor lighting at dusk, or the earth art valley entrance, the visitors create and distribute brand imagery without any corporate coordination required. The organic content generation continues indefinitely as long as the site remains visually compelling.

The research conducted during design development documented site ecology and microclimate creation in ways that support ongoing refinement. As landscape professionals understand better how the undulating terrain functions across seasons and years, adjustments can optimize performance without requiring fundamental redesign. The adaptive capacity extends the useful life of the initial design investment.

For enterprises evaluating significant landscape investments, the permanent demonstration area model offers compelling advantages over conventional approaches that separate marketing expenditure from facility development. When landscape design achieves the integration demonstrated in the Merchants International Cruise City project, every visitor experience becomes a brand touchpoint, and the facility becomes a perpetually appreciating brand asset.

Recognition and Professional Validation of Corporate Landscape Excellence

The achievement represented by the Merchants International Cruise City project received formal acknowledgment when the project earned the Golden A' Design Award in Landscape Planning and Garden Design in 2022. The recognition from the A' Design Award program validates the design excellence demonstrated while providing third-party credibility for corporate communication purposes.

Golden A' Design Award designation recognizes marvelous, outstanding, and trendsetting creations reflecting designer prodigy and wisdom. The evaluation criteria encompass innovation, functionality, aesthetic quality, and positive impact. For corporate clients commissioning landscape work, award recognition provides external validation that supports internal investment decisions and external brand communication.

The project demonstrates how landscape design can serve as strategic brand infrastructure when approached with appropriate ambition and expertise. The integration of maritime vocabulary, visitor journey choreography, environmental responsiveness, and permanent value creation represents a template that other organizations can adapt to their own corporate identities and site opportunities.

Professionals and enterprises interested in understanding the specific mechanisms through which the project achieves the demonstrated effects can Explore the Award-Winning Merchants International Cruise City Design through the A' Design Award documentation, which provides detailed images and designer commentary on the techniques employed.

The design team that realized the vision included Zhang Zhang, Changming Xu, Jianhua Zhang, Lin Tang, Guangchen Shao, Shuai Xing, Meixiang Ming, and Lingdong Zhang, working under the Jialian Design banner. The collaborative effort demonstrates how complex corporate landscape projects require diverse expertise coordinated toward unified vision.

Future Directions for Corporate Identity in Landscape Architecture

The principles demonstrated in the Merchants International Cruise City project point toward expanded opportunities for corporate landscape design as organizations increasingly recognize physical space as brand communication channel. Several emerging directions merit attention from enterprises considering similar investments.

The integration of digital and physical experience offers particularly rich possibilities. The aluminum corridors already create dynamic experiences that change with lighting conditions, but future projects might incorporate responsive elements that adapt to visitor presence or activity. Digital integration possibilities must balance technological ambition with the timeless qualities that support multi-decade brand asset performance.

Ecological integration will likely deepen as climate considerations become more central to corporate positioning. The sponge city concepts employed in the Merchants International Cruise City project represent current best practice, but emerging techniques for carbon sequestration, biodiversity support, and climate adaptation will expand the vocabulary available for demonstrating corporate environmental leadership through landscape design.

The narrative journey approach demonstrated in the project suggests opportunities for more explicit storytelling integration. As augmented reality and location-based digital content mature, landscapes might layer interpretive experiences onto physical journeys in ways that deepen corporate communication without requiring physical modifications to established designs.

Jialian Design, based in Chongqing with expertise spanning scenic area planning, tourism resort design, park design, and residential landscape, brings methodology developed through projects with major developers to each new challenge. The firm's stated philosophy of designing unlimited life while proposing original solutions based on rational analysis of local conditions suggests continued innovation in corporate landscape practice.

A Closing Reflection

The Merchants International Cruise City project demonstrates that landscape architecture can accomplish far more than creating pleasant outdoor environments. When approached strategically, landscape becomes a medium for corporate communication that engages visitors through complete sensory experience rather than through message delivery. The sailing spirit and expansive vision of the commissioning organization become something visitors feel in their bodies as the visitors move through the site, not something the visitors read on interpretive signage.

For enterprises and brands evaluating landscape investments, the Merchants International Cruise City project offers both inspiration and methodology. The careful translation of abstract brand values into spatial and material vocabulary, the choreographing of visitor journeys as narrative experiences, the integration of environmental performance with aesthetic impact, and the creation of permanent brand assets through thoughtful design all represent transferable principles.

What corporate values does your organization hold that might translate into physical landscape experience, and what would visitors feel in their bodies if those values surrounded the visitors completely?