While with RNL, in the position of Design Director, Ron Schafer brought into the firm this master planning opportunity and developed the overall planning conceptual design along with Charles Pigg. Ron coordinated all design between his LA team and Beijing Team. It was part of the continuing relationship with Jingyu Real Estate. 

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Dragon River Retail Park, located in the Guangyang District, southeast of Beijing, is envisioned to be the largest world class shopping and tourism attraction in China. The project was invisaged as the “River of Life”, an extension of the Guangyang districts Dragon River, located just north of the site. The components will be an international Food and Beverage District, a diverse mix of theme park attractions, hotel/serviced apartments, live work units, an indoor - outdoor shopping mall, exhibition center, cultural center and office uses surrounding a large public central Park. The mall component, one of the largest products on the site, will have a floating roof form, designed to have a flowing physical design to match the organic nature of the river. It will float over and connect all of the different districts proposed for the shopping experience.