Fanqi Road

Location Beijing, China | Client Beijing Chiangshi Oriental Land | Size 3,000 square meters | Status Completed 2014 | Tags Public Realm and Infrastructure

Martha Schwartz Partners have been commissioned by Beijing Changshi Oriental Land to produce a landscape vision for the North Diaoyutai Development at Yanqi (Swan) Lake, 50km north of Beijing, China.

The project comprises a spa hotel designed by Tadao Ando, surrounded by two residential communities and a streetscape along Fanqi Road. The client is the only private developer to be granted a development liscence at Yanqi Lake which is the site of the 2014 APEC meetings.

Our vision is for an immersive landscape framework, one that wraps the built components of the project within a unifying environment – tying together the varied architectural styles into one coherent whole. In addition to the overall landscape vision MSP is responsible for the detailed design of a number of areas within the project, these include, Fanqi Road (the street address of the project), the Southern and Northern Residential entries and the Shore Garden.

Fanqi Road is a 340 metre long diorama – a contemporary interpretation of a Chinese landscape painting, illustrating the many and varied facets of the Chinese landscape. The landscape rises away from the road in a series of extruded stone boxes, a ‘mountain’ stepping up and protecting the North Diaoyutai project. These boxes form planters for native tree, shrub and bamboo planting. The boxes also form ‘plinths’ for the exhibition of Chinese geology in the form of massive rocks. Water runs from the central hotel entrance downhill to the south and north, cascading down the stone plinths and running into the development as a symbol of vitality and wealth.