Sponge Synergy: Huaiyang Fuxi Cultural Park
Sponge Synergy: Huaiyang Fuxi Cultural Park
Sponge Synergy: Huaiyang Fuxi Cultural Park
Sponge Synergy: Huaiyang Fuxi Cultural Park
Sponge Synergy: Huaiyang Fuxi Cultural Park
Sponge Synergy: Huaiyang Fuxi Cultural Park
Sponge Synergy: Huaiyang Fuxi Cultural Park
Can flood protection be beautiful? For the past quarter century, Beijing-based Turenscape has championed the “sponge city” concept, introducing large-scale yet contextually sensitive landscape interventions into cities from Bangkok to Chongqing in order to protect them from rising waters amidst an increasingly volatile climate. In so doing, it’s also creating awe-inducing civic green spaces — and the recently completed Huaiyang Fuxi Cultural Park in Zhoukou pushes the envelope even further.
Spanning 43 hectares on the shores of Dragon Lake, a previously neglected site, the welcoming public park harnesses the landscape’s natural topography to alleviate flood risk. In fact, the water management infrastructure has been envisioned as a surprising aesthetic highlight: A series of 27 crater-shaped “islands” interspersed throughout the site allow the park to absorb — and purify — up to one million cubic metres of stormwater per year. While these stormwater pools serve an environmental purpose, they also double as intuitive social hubs framed by elegantly shaded walkways. In the winter months, the largest islands are used as toboggan hills, while play equipment animates them in warmer weather; the smaller craters, meantime, are given over to art installations and fountains. Boardwalks and native plantings, including the poplar and willow trees celebrated in traditional local folk culture, connect these circles to each other and to the sprawling landscape beyond.
It makes for an unprecedented public realm — and an impressive feat of engineering. In all, some 860,000 cubic metres of dirt and debris were recycled during the on-site cut and fill process in order to reshape the landscape into a protective barrier. An aerial view reveals a deeper spiritual meaning: The park’s layout reflects the cosmological system of the Bagua (or “Eight Trigrams”), a set of symbols that represents the building blocks of the natural world and their opposing forces of yin and yang. In fact, Huaiyang Fuxi Cultural Park is situated near the historic mausoleum of the originator of the Bagua — the legendary Chinese emperor Fuxi, from which it takes its name. This fantastic living landscape, then, pays homage to spiritual history while ensuring a resilient future.
Team: Kongjian Yu, Xiaodan Wu, Jianmin Jia and Yuan Fang with Jian Zong, Linlin Yan, Hanjun Zhang, Shuangzhi Ma, Jie Li, Lei Wang and Ya Sang.
The recently completed Huaiyang Fuxi Cultural Park in Zhoukou makes flood protection beautiful.
