[Restoration project]

Houtan Park, Shanghai: Landscape as a living system

My final third year project site is Greenwich peninsula in south east London. As you know that the site includes the Dome also known by the O2 arena as landmark. Nevertheless, much of the buiding and many of the site lies vacant and nearby waterfont is dominated by industrial wharves. These characters of site remind me to look at a restoration project. I found very interesting regenerative design which was promoted by 2010 shangjai world expo.


The site is a brownfield littered with industrial and construction debris. The water of Huangpu River is highly polluted and is considered unsafe for swimming and recreation and devoid of aquatic life.


Regenerative design strategies used to transform the site into a living system that offer comprehensive ecological services included: food production, flood, water treatment, and habitat creation combined in an educational and aesthetic form


Through the center of the park, a linear constructed wetland, 1.7 kilometers (one mile) long and 5- 30 meters (16.5 – 100 feet) wide was designed to create a reinvigorated waterfront as a living machine to treat contaminated water from the Huangpu River. Cascades and terraces are used to oxygenate the nutrient rich water, remove and retain nutrients and reduce suspended sediments while creating pleasant water features; Different species of wetland plants were selected and designed to absorb different pollutants from the water.

The Park demonstrates a living system where ecological infrastructure can provide multiple services for society and nature and new ecological water treatment and flood control methods. The post-industrial design demonstrates a unique productive landscape evoking the memories of past and the future of the ecological civilization, paying homage to a new aesthetics based low maintenance and high performance landscapes.

Project: Shanghai Houtan Park: Landscape as a living system
Location: Shanghai, 2010 Shanghai Expo Park, China
Size: 14 hectares
Project Type: Park, ecological restoration
Landscape Architect: Turenscape (Beijing Turen Design Institute) http://www.turenscape.com/
Date of Completion: 2010