Background
The site is located in the Northern New Town, the core area of future development of Shangyu City, which is a new political, economic and cultural center and a high living standard area in the near future according to the perspective land-planning. From the perspective of the green space system, the LaoBaili River was once a branch of artificial irrigation. The green spaces on both sides of the river will become the green fingers running through the north and south of the new city, and our site will be the starting point. From this point of view, this greenspace of less than 8,000 square meters has its special meaning and mission. Its predictable that the east side of the LaoBaili River will be in a semi-developed state in the next 3-5 years. However, with the gradual advancement of the construction of the new city, the overall appearance will be gradually improved, therefore a better and attractive LaoBaili River Greenway it will become.
Background
The site is surrounded by multiple community blocks, which are all currently under construction. with a small but rather long dimensions (60 meters wide in the north, 35 meters wide in the south with the length of 106 meters. ) The Liangzhu Avenue as an expressway, to a certain extent dilutes the relationship between this area and the old town. It will be an important community park within a 3 km distance of its surrounding area in the near future and also a main outdoor public space for residents from the northern area due to the lack of green space in the neighborhoods.To summarize, the definition of this green space can be interpreted as: a small site carries a great future. It is small, but of great significance to the future urban life. It will be a new space for new life, a new starting point for a new greenway, and a new look for a new city.
The Question
The challenges we face for the site are:
1. How to connect this small place to its future. In this narrow and long field without large landform difference, it is important to arrange the entrance and exit space reasonably so as to make it spatially linked to the future and it is more meaningful work to conceive a story and connect it to the future spiritually. The former requires cautious analysis, while the latter requires unconstrained but reasonable imagination.
2. How to create an attractive space. Provide an interesting community park for residents who live within a 5-10 minutes walking distance. Therefore, this site should firstly have an impressive theme, and there should be a space full of possibilities for interesting interactions to make up the lack of green space in the neighborhood. There is no doubt that the site could offer open lawn spaces, rich landform changes, and large forest spaces that could not be found in community space within the residential blocks.
3. How to balance resources reasonably. how to balance the existing site resources while turning the site into a fun and interesting park within a tight budget.
Title Solution
The basic design is almost done at this point. It seems a bit dull design for a park of 8000㎡ only for solving its current site issues. A story is brought to the site to give the city a green gift full of expectations. This urban place is hoped not only to satisfy the residents fro leisure activities, but also some small surprises.
The Story goes:
One day, a super-mini supernova, passing by the earth’s magnetic field.
Accidentally slipped out of its orbit, pierced the atmosphere, and fell into a field.
Because of its mini size, the super nova caused only a 30 meter radius of fragmentation when it fell, shake the land up and downs, made a long scratch in the field by the surface resistance, stacked up thick folds then finally disappeared at the end.
After a series of actions, the super mini star left indelible marks to the site then disappeared in sight. The traces left behind become various interesting forms and activity spaces. Obviously the story of this super mini star is a metaphor that implies how mini the site is as well as how important it meant to the future.
These spaces include：Rock Plaza, Hill Park, Galaxy Lawn, Stream Wonderland, Fold Mound.
Rock Plaza
It's a forest growing out of the cracks in the rock!There are meteor fragments left on the ground,They form triangular grassy slopes to become a complex square,Which is a perfect place for skateboarding.
Hill Park
The cracked rocks seem deliberately turned into waves of hills,there is a “wave-liked field” .
Galaxy Lawn
Let’s lie down on the lawn, look up at the sky ,Look at the stars and moon shining brightly,
and look again, to wonder if there will be unknown stars fall down quietly and disappeared over head.
Stream Wonderland
The long trace on the earth is the result of the friction between the meteorite and the ground. The water flows down naturally, jumps like a fairy in between us when press the surprising buttons.
Fold Mound
Thick folds made up the hills, can be visualized from the city to the south,between the space you may lie down, sit down or look up at the stars, sit quietly and meditate,or its somewhere you want to walk by after meals.
In a corner of the city, there is a park full of vitality with various possibilities.It is a public space that can spark creativity, allowing imagination to wonder freely among the greens.
Afterword
Looking back on the design process, from concept to implementation, it is indeed the most liberal project we’ve encountered so far: with a sense of mission and social responsibility as a city developer, our client gave us their full trust with efficient multiparty cooperation， especially give thanks to our Landscape PM Mr. Liu, for his great contribution during the whole process. An interesting design needs reliable design considerations as its foundations which includes cost control as detailed as a tree or a brick, the meticulous details of a patchwork, and the tireless on-site service as guarantee. Here we present this open space, an interesting community green park to the city of Shaoxing as a little surprise, to give the surrounding residents an easy-to-use and fun leisure place to wonder and their expectations for a better life in the future.
