In order to make the stitched foothill zone more interesting, we constructed a foothill ring in the shape of a water drop at a clearance position 4 meters higher than the lowest part of the col, a ridge ring that connects natural ridges and artificial ridges at an altitude of 4 meters, and a ridge ring that can connect all the amusement content in series. Under the effect of this ring, the entire amusement space has become a three-dimensional space, and the amusement line is disrupted and distorted in the three-dimensional space, and users of any age can lose time in exploration, which is an infinite adventure ring in a sense in the foothills.
The project is located in a corner of Liuquan Lake Park, the largest comprehensive park in Yichang City, and is one of the ten themed recreational spaces around Liuquan Lake. Legend has it that there are six springs under the water of Liuquan Lake, which artesian into a lake, from which Liuquan Lake gets its name. The park is very close to the city, and it is a 10-minute drive from the high-rise city area of Xiaoting City to this waterfront area surrounded by mountains and forests, and the two completely different scenery can be freely switched in minutes. Liuquan Lake, surrounded by clear mountains and rivers and deep valleys, has become the city's natural oxygen bar, and has gradually become a tourist and leisure destination for Xiaoting people and even Yichang people on weekends and holidays.
At the beginning of 2024, we were commissioned by the owner to carry out a comprehensive design of the Liuquan Lake Children's Park, and the owner hopes that the Liuquan Lake will have a fun and attractive children's playground among the green mountains and green waters.
According to Google Maps imagery, this was once a foothill on the bank of a pond, a part of the mountain slope where the surrounding flat land meets, and it is a topographical transition zone from the mountain to the waterbank. Although the mountainous terrain had become a landslide prone to fragmentation due to the development of the area at that time, the trend of the ridgeline extending gracefully to the waterfront can still be read from satellite imagery.
With the development of Liuquan Lake Park, the adjacent pond was filled with earthwork to become a stadium, and the landslide was rebuilt with slope protection works to ensure the safety of the foothills. The ridgeline that originally gracefully extended to the lake has disappeared, and the diversified space of the foothill zone brought about by the intersection of the ridgeline and the col line has been smoothed out, and the only thing that remains unchanged is the shore breeze, sunrise and sunset, and light and shadow changes on the shore of Liuquan Lake surrounded by hills and foothills.
To construct a children's play park at such a site, we sorted out three design principles:
01. Re-establish a connection with the foothills.
We were able to place some larger, urban-themed equipment related to the Xiaoting on the site's existing gentle slopes, but we lost the opportunity to reconnect with the foothills. If we are facing the col space of 20 or even 30 years ago, we will not simply place a stylized instrument to solve the problem, after all, the ridge line and the col line in the foothill zone at that time were staggered, and the space was rich and changeable. In such a space, it can be especially interesting for children to throw a piece of wood, drop a slide, and climb a net. Therefore, we want to reconnect with this foothill terrain and let children re-experience the joy of play brought by the diversity of the terrain.
02. Give the city a playful space with endless possibilities for exploration.
After making it clear that this is a playground with the foothills as the background, we also need to think about what kind of playground content we will build here. If it is mainly powered amusement equipment, it is not suitable due to the limitations of cost, management and operation and construction scale, and it is more suitable for non-powered equipment to be easier to integrate with the foothill terrain. We wanted this to be a non-powered playground with endless possibilities for exploration, with crawling as the core gameplay. There needs to be more possibilities for exploring in a variety of combinations; Adults, big kids, little kids, little kids can all find something to play with here; Best of all, there's something for everyone to enjoy.
03. Create a theme that is unique to this place.
Such a space with unique venue genes should have a unique venue super symbol. As the most influential public space in the future, it is expected to have some symbols that can represent the Xiaoting. Legend has it that at the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, the ancient craftsmen built a pavilion by the river, Yidu Taishou Zhang Fei inspected here, saw a thing carved on the pavilion pillar, like a tiger but not a tiger, the eyes were open angrily, and the back spread the wings. Zhang Fei was curious and asked what it was, and the craftsman replied: This is an angry tiger, called XIAO. So, the name of Xiaoting District . It can be seen that the Xiaoting itself has a unique sense of picture and symbol.
Design Strategy
01. How do you reconnect with the mountain? - Stitching of the foothill line
The foothill terrain that has changed several times has long since lost traces of the changeable nature of the past, so the foothill line here can only be artificially stitched and cannot be completely returned. We hope to artificially reconstruct the richness of the foothill line here, so that the playground seems to grow naturally from the mountains, and carries the play space with rich terrain undulations, space opening and closing, and soft and hard integration. As a result, the ridgeline that continues from the hills, like an ancient beast that came out of the mountain forest, continues to hover in the space of the site with an unending trend for thousands of years, becoming a unique hilly valley in the playground.
02. How to build a playspace where you can play infinitely? ——The construction of the infinite exploration ring in the foothills
In order to make the stitched foothill zone more interesting, we constructed a foothill ring in the shape of a water drop at a clearance position 4 meters higher than the lowest part of the col, a ridge ring that connects natural ridges and artificial ridges at an altitude of 4 meters, and a ridge ring that can connect all the amusement content in series. Under the effect of this ring, the entire amusement space has become a three-dimensional space, and the amusement line is disrupted and distorted in the three-dimensional space, and users of any age can lose time in exploration, which is an infinite adventure ring in a sense in the foothills.
03. What kind of scene theme should be given to the venue? - "Xiao"
XIAO, for the roar, the meaning of the tiger's roar; It is an ancient mythical beast, with a body like a tiger and wings spread on its back. If Xiao come out of the mist from the mountains and forests and come here, it must be full of vitality and even a little cute and cute. We have built a "Xiao" theme park, and Xiao will also turn into an interesting slide because of the cuteness of children, become a unique texture of the hill valley, and become an amusement symbol of this venue.
The entire site can be deconstructed into four levels using a thousand layer pie chart: from bottom to top, there are hilly and foothill terrain, Xiao themed patterns, foothill infinite exploration ring, and sixteen types of amusement equipment.
The first layer, hilly foothill terrain
As described in the strategy, the long-cut ridgeline is extended back into the site, and the hills, plains, mountains, ridges, cols, and hills within the site are reconstructed, and these complex and varied terrains provide a diverse foundation for the construction of the playground. The original site itself has the function of collecting water as a watershed, and we use the topography to reorganize the natural mountain edge to collect the mountain water around the site, and finally flow into Liuquan Lake.
The second layer, the theme pattern of Xiao
No one has ever seen the color of the ancient Xiao, but since it is a tiger with wings, let's pull the pattern to make the earth, so that the pattern becomes the unique skin color of the mountains and hills, so the terrain of the hills and foothills has a playful atmosphere.
The third layer, the foothills of the infinite adventure ring
The Foothill Infinite Adventure Ring is a semi-web ring in the form of a water droplet. It is not only a simple loop, but also connects six water drop platforms in series and carries 16 kinds of amusement equipment. Each water drop platform has the function of vertical up and down, the tiger's den hanging net, the mountain top ring and the long ring of the jumping net are connected by the mountain stream climbing net moving line, and the water drop platform on the mountain and the infinite exploration ring at the foot of the mountain face each other in the air. The endless possibilities allow children to find endless combinations of ways to play.
The fourth layer, there are sixteen kinds of amusement equipment and countless ways to play
Based on the adventure ring and hilly terrain, it organically integrates 16 kinds of amusement equipment, including mountain stream crawling nets, vertical climbing nets, spiral staircases, expanding cloud steps, tiger slides, tiger trampolines, water drop seats, mountain peak slides, water drop slides, mountain top climbing nets, mountain col sand pits, tiger's den hanging nets, tiger tail microphones, swings under the corridor, rotating claws and claws, and big adventure slides. There is a limit to the number of machines, but creative kids can develop countless ways to play on hills, adventure rings, and machines.
The playground follows the terrain of the mountain and is built against the mountain. The construction of the tiger's posture of rushing down the mountain in "Xiao Riding on the Mist from the Mountain Forest" requires a large amount of earthwork to fill the foothill terrain on the tiger's back, which was originally destroyed. The balance of the earthwork was achieved through the excavation of the foundation in the site and the spoil in the grass skiing area of the original site, and the original damaged foothill line was restored. The three-dimensional foothill infinite adventure ring is used as the core amusement experience space, and the site topography, construction structure, and amusement equipment are naturally integrated with it in elevation. In the design process, a variety of software tools are used to scrutinize and optimize the site model, and the refined design of the site model is realized.
EPDM venue color
The color matching of the site originates from the refinement of the texture of the "ancient Xiao" pattern, after the design determines that the pattern color is composed of five primary colors, the EPDM aggregate is mixed for the ratio experiment, and the sample color under different proportions is repeatedly observed. After screening and determining the design samples, a small range of proofing is carried out on site to further confirm the appearance texture, color, color contrast, flatness, hardness, slip resistance and other indicators.
Foothills Infinite Adventure Ring
The adventure ring is located at the foot of the mountain, and the project site was originally a water body.With the overall development and construction of Liuquan Lake, a large amount of earthwork has been backfilled in the project area,Combined with the geological exploration situation, the geological stability is poor, and the cushion needs to be replaced for foundation treatment, and the foundation form is finally in the form of raft foundation under the column.The main body of the expedition ring is designed with a steel structure, the main body of the structure is exposed, and white fluorocarbon paint is used as the main color of the exterior finish of the expedition ring.
Tiger Slide
The shape of the tiger is composed of triangular surfaces of different sizes, that is, the abstract shape of the concrete entity of the tiger is shaped, and the difficulty of making and processing the hyperboloid surface is also avoided as much as possible. Each triangular steel plate needs to be delicately numbered and seamlessly welded, and each steel plate represents a unique body part of the tiger, using the tiger's internal cavity and the tandem of the tiger's claws to build a slide, with a total length of about 11 meters and a height difference of 3.9 meters.
We are delighted to have the opportunity to do such a challenging play on the shores of the foothills where the mountains and lakes meet, and we tried to respond to the unique topography of the site in the design, and use this to re-give the playground more diversity than just the equipment. This diversity comes from the "high and low twists" of the site itself, and then a series of constructions, whether it is the construction of the infinite adventure ring of the foothills or the addition of the theme of Xiao, all respond to the "vitality with the situation" described in Ji Cheng's Yuanye. Everything is reasonable, and it seems to have fallen into the unexpected, giving this foothill, this lakeside, and this city a happy venue.
