[Restoration project]

Ballast Point Park

The Ballast Point Park is situated on the Birchgrove Peninsula in the inner reaches of Sydney harbour, Australia. The site was contaminated by former industrial lubricant production site.
The design uses world leading sustainability principles to minimise the project’s carbon footprint and ecologically rehabilitate the site. The environmental approach is further underpinned by site-wide stormwater biofiltration, recycled materials, and wind turbines for on-site energy production.



8 vertical axis wind turbines and an extract from a Les Murray poem, carved into recycled tank panels, forms a sculptural re-interpretation of the site’s former largest storage tank. The wind turbines symbolise the future, a step away from our fossil fuelled past towards more sustainable renewable energy forms.




Dominant new terrace walls sit atop the sandstone cliffs but these walls are not made of precious sandstone excavated from another site, rather from the rubble of our past. What once was called rubbish is now called beautiful. It is the new ballast. But it is more than this at play: It is the total composition of these recycled rubber filled cages, off set with concrete coping panels topped with fine grain railing, that allow these walls to sit confidently at the portal to the inner harbour.

[Restoration project]

Cheonggyecheon Restoration Project: Seoul, Korea

This project is one of the influential project in Korea. I live not far from here so I have a chance to go there sometimes. I remember that the site was fully covered as a four-lane overpass and the site next to the overpass housed a dence warren of small business. It had caused heavy traffic jam and the area was polluted.


The project required the dismantling and demolition of an elevated highway, and the uncovering of the historic 5.8 km waterway that ran underneath. This was transformed into an ecologically sensitive green pedestrian corridor.


Zone 1: History
The Japanese colonial administration first began dredging Cheonggyecheon stream.
National and imperial motifs highlight this zone’s emphasis on history. The foundations and stones of earlier bridges were included as decorative elements.

Zone 2: Urban+Culture
The middle zone has recreation areas, waterfront decks, and stepping stones that bridge the two banks. Its design focused on using environmentally friendly materials.

Zone 3: Nature
The stream widens as it enters the final zone, which was designed to look overgrown and untamed.



They used a very smart and interactive design which included 22 different intersections and bridges. The developers and urban planner also looked at the cultural activities that took place at this site decades before the expressway existed and integrated them with effective lighting.
It has benefits included, increased tourism, increased pedestrian traffic resulting in boosting health, and the redevelopment of old streets within Seoul that boosted business, economy and real estate.

[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