GREEN & BLUE INFRASTRUCTURE cultural programs and activities in the cultural park.
Pavilions Both parks have programmed pavilions distributed fairly and evenly throughout. From extra-small programs( picnic, mahjong) pavilions at 2.5 minute intervals; to medium programs( children’ s playground, kiosk) at 5 minute intervals; to large programs( cafes, events spaces) at 10 minute intervals.
Uncompromised This project provides a new uncompromised landscape despite the conflicting landscape demands of this new century.
West Bank: Indigenous Ecosystem Corridor reparations, healing and coexistence
The West Bank is a rewilded postindustrial landscape, restored as a single, uninterrupted ecological space. Its design prioritizes habitat continuity, enabling indigenous fauna to re-establish and connect safely through the city’ s broader network of wildlife habitat and corridors. A rich mosaic of habitats and shelters— including protected spaces, nesting boxes, frog ponds, islands, rain gardens and wetlands— supports this ecological resurgence. By removing kilometres of concrete canal edges and replacing them with vegetated, contoured banks, the project fosters fish spawning and amphibious life. These banks are stabilized using native riparian species of trees, plants and reeds.
Yangtse Fauna Restoration The restored aquatic and terrestrial environments are specifically designed to support the biodiversity of the Southern Yangtze, hosting a variety of native species. The wetlands can provide critical staging and wintering grounds for migratory waterbirds such as the Oriental Stork, Little Egret, and the Chinese Pond-Heron. Resident species like the Common Kingfisher and Lightvented Bulbul should utilize the corridor for year-round foraging and nesting. The rejuvenated waterway supports native fish from both the Yangtse River at one end and Taihu Lake, Suzhou at the other. These populations are critical to a healthy food web within the riverine ecosystem.
Urban vs Wild: The Rewilding Struggle The 4km eco-corridor balances public access with ecological preservation through purposeful, low-impact design. Winding, meandering paths guide visitors through the landscape, protecting sensitive habitats from disruption. Site amenities utilize muted colors, textured natural materials, and ecological themes to blend into the environment. To further soften their integration, large-scale infrastructure like car parks and playgrounds adopt ship shaped footprints that mimic wetland islands forms, ensuring the highdensity residential precinct thrives without compromising the integrity of the surrounding ecosystem.
Unchartered Frontiers While indigenous corridors are well-established in many countries, they are unheard of, and difficult to appreciate for many municipal patrons and professionals in the Yangtse River Delta. Fortunately, an open-minded client supported this rewilding effort. However, we underestimated the new residents’ expectations; as high-density developments were completed, the community began demanding the manicured intensity of the cultural East Bank. Many residents are newly urbanized and find little novelty in“ wild” settings. Consequently, the client requested amendments for later stages toward expansive lawns over native grasses— a biting irony, as twenty years earlier we had fought hard to introduce some lawns, then exotic, into new parks in this very city.
Decoding the Wild – Signage for Stewardship To bridge this cultural gap, we seek
to expand our system of educational signage throughout the corridor. These markers will serve as a decoded layer of the landscape, explaining the hidden functions of the wilder zones— such as how specific reeds filter canal water or why messy scrub are essential for the native residents to enjoy. By reframing the wild landscape as a sophisticated living utility rather than neglected land, we hope to build the local stewardship necessary to eventually reclaim the lawns as functional, biodiverse habitats.
Cultural and Industrial Heritage To honour Xicheng Canal’ s shipping legacy, BAU integrated the site’ s industrial bones into the landscape by preserving original structural skeletons and constructing largescale architectural interpretations of former workers’ villages as sculptural memories. These skeletal forms, alongside repurposed landmarks like the industrial silos, maintain the industrial scale of the waterfront while grounding the park in its history of labour and trade. Visitor installations and interpretive signage further highlight the canal’ s regional role as a vital link connecting Suzhou and the hinterlands to the Yangte River and the sea.
Documentation Partner: Hangzhou Landscape Architecture
Design Institute Co., Ltd.
Photography: Inter _ Mountain Images
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