Zigong Dongxingsi Waterfront
Location Sichuan, China | Client Zigong City Construction Investment and Development | Photographer Terrence Zhang | Size 50,000 square meters | Status Completed 2019 | Tags Parks and Civic Spaces, Public Realm and Infrastructure, Climate Change
MSP’s new landscape design reconnects the city to the waterfront, with multiple new amenity spaces and a strong visual identity inspired by Zigong’s history and culture.
The landscape concept draws inspiration from the dragon, China’s spiritual symbol, feted in the local dragon boat races; the curvilinear design motif echoes the meandering river’s water eddies.
This translates into a fluid landscape concept that works with the topography.
Terraced promenades offer accessible pedestrian connections with steps and ramps, usable even when lower levels are flooded, while a timber deck near the water allows interaction with the water’s edge, key to the lantern festival. The paths expand to pocket parks and plazas, or contract to smaller rooms for more secluded gatherings.
Striking ‘dinosaur rib’ sculptural elements, repeated along the promenade, double as retaining structures for the terraces, and celebrate the vast numbers of dinosaurs dating from the Middle Jurassic era which were found in the region in the 1980s.
Sustainable urban drainage to mitigate flooding from sub-tropical monsoon rains is a key element in the scheme. A sponge park in the adjacent residential development absorbs, filters and attenuates stormwater run-off. Raingardens along the streets absorb and process the rainwater, with excess run-off feeding waterfalls along the promenade that surprise and delight. These flow into an innovative artificial stream, where visitors can observe a floating raft wetland system which uses advanced but simple biological technologies to cleanse the water before it is released back into the river.
Striking ‘dinosaur rib’ sculptural elements, repeated along the promenade, double as retaining structures for the terraces. They celebrate the vast numbers of dinosaurs, dating from the Middle Jurassic era, which were found in the region in the 1980s.
Before the project, the steep hillsides of Sichuan between Chongqing and Chengdu, located beside Zigong’s sadly polluted Fuxi river, used to host derelict housing on top of a steep unusable embankment along the river, and a road separating the city from the water. The area also suffered from recurring flooding.
The area is now a world-class destination with a range of attractive uses. It engages communities and celebrates the connection between the river and the city.
