70ac73e4a364ec5ed88938b86295b172.jpg
Low Intervention Landscape | Lakeside park of between the lake by China Resources Land, Wuhan City

We encountered an original landscape by the Yanxi Lake in Wuhan City, 20 kilometers away from the city center, which happened to be a suburban escape. The government plans to build a lakeside park here to serve the residents of the surrounding community. Its base is different from most lake scenery in the city, it is more like an undiscovered secret place, wild and poetic, secret and elegant.

Facing this "painting", we hope that people can enter into the painting and become a part of it while watching and appreciating it from a distance. So we make the wetland as the center and divide the site into different spatial experiences according to the current vertical relationship: gazing and immersion. We hope people can experience this land from different dimensions.

Due to the abundant natural resources and complex site conditions, our project team went to the site for exploration many times in order to find the most suitable design method for the site, and each time they were attracted by a native wetland at the end of the site. The wetland is connected to the lake, and the edge cannot be seen. The big trees in the water are even more lonely and tough. The thick branches echo each other, climb upwards, and combine with the lake to form a perfect landscape painting. This scene reminds us of many Impressionist paintings of the late 19th century.

bc8a9cff74c4d779103dbf91b54ae304.jpg
88fe91b6def1eb378c5405517853827d.jpg
e09eb76a82b495093341575d93b1f69f.jpg
Immersion

Walking down the platform and strolling on the shore of the wetland, we enter the "painting" unconsciously. Facing the lotus leaves, the forest belts and the continuous wetlands, as the one in the painting, we just want to go in and come out. Being immersed in it and just dazed is the best respect for this land. And everything is naturally filled well.

For this landscape, we decided to design with minimal intervention. When visiting the lake, the inspiration came from the lotus leaves in the wetlands. The lotus leaf is light and elegant, and our thinking extends along the lotus leaf, just like the person in the painting picks a few wide lotus leaves and sprinkles them in the lake at will, scattered into several floating platforms. It is very comfortable to sit on the platform lightly. But two more lotus leaves need and protect from the sun and rain. In this way, the "from the big scene to small" between the lotus leaf and the site has become a clue linking the artificial and the natural. After sorting out the wetland space, two lotus leaf installations and several groups of leaf floating platforms are used as the main functional venues, and are linked by plank roads to preserve the natural features of the site to the greatest extent.

163afa54dffa39875cd233ddd0d14d42.jpg
Design Simulation
d0b7a5834b9831dfe6e1f7c2bc1ce6ce.jpg
a094f7ac3bf1753748424bfc33c9f8fd.jpg
9e967b22bff613aad6852468418e4599.jpg
29feca192938f70e42eaff7201847066.jpg

The two groups of "lotus leaves" lie on the lakeside in a natural spatial form, with their openings facing the best view of the landscape. In order to ensure that the installation process does not affect the surrounding natural environment, the device uses a steel structure as the main frame, which is prefabricated in the factory and then transported to the site for assembly. The overall finish is spliced with narrow wooden strips, blending into the site with a soft and warm spatial texture.

bf23d993185dd1fc09bb99b2ada2887f.jpg
3ddf9b7e5008cdc8488b5ab82784e2a3.jpg

The relationship between the "lotus leaf" and the woods is either open and stretched, or tactfully detoured, forming a rich spatial expression.

e0585164b59b7185f52bc6ba2711c693.jpg
c147892f02a7d0f04d531449474c86c3.jpg
612de6fc314d91943601669deff66d04.jpg
Gazing

Standing at the best viewing point, feeling the beauty of nature's brush, so we set up a lookout point here and named it "Studio glazing at the lake". The studio is spread out horizontally, pointing to the center of the lake, establishing a close visual link with the lake. The bottom of the studio is half embedded in the slope, while the top floats forming a strong spatial contrast. Between the lake and the studio, "from the big scene to small room", it seems that all the lakeside scenery can be put in it at some moment. Walking down the steps to the platforms at different elevations, some hidden in the forest, some above the water, together with the studio, forming a public space for residents to enjoy the scenery outdoors.

ee3d696534b35a7e28133f89f97b9bbf.jpg
The site and its surroundings become a mutual landscape for each other

Between the lake and the studio, "from the big scene to small room", it seems that all the lakeside scenery can be put in it at some moment.

b5c04dab24d4471836159ade6f52164d.jpg
9d772507133a86e0b5864cd50f53aa9c.jpg

Walking down the steps to the platforms at different elevations, some hidden in the forest, some above the water, together with the studio, forming a public space for residents to enjoy the scenery outdoors.

7af9466cf0aa89fa1ee38d9d7e6e802f.jpg

Looking further into the distance, when the path loses its boundary, when the mottled tree shadows become sparse, and suddenly the waves of the lake come to the surface, Yanxi Lake suddenly comes out, and the landscape fades...

Our low-intervention attempt at Yanxi Lake this time is inspired by the natural resources on site. Through the extension of the locality, the details of the environment, the scale of the installation and the creation of a microclimate, people can learn the nature while having the greatest respect for the environment. Although the landscape scope displayed on the site is only a small part of the overall lakeside green space, we hope that this practice can become a seed that will take root here and spread to the surrounding area, bringing more possibility to the construction of the overall park by the Yanxi Lake in the future.

8fb2e1f12324045193e7c1cc3d0ebc96.jpg
dc0483e4e0b7b096c6a2a957230e8a5d.jpg
7f0216120e353d3289b645c68e87c657.jpg

Project Location: Yanxi Lake, Optics Valley of China,Wuhan CityProject area: 1.5ha
Design time: 2021
Completion time: 2022
Client: CR Land(Wuhan)co.,ltd.
Landscape Design: Change Studio
Landscape construction: HuaYan Guangzhou
Photography: Ning Wang

c302d087924d2f4eda38b52631d1a492.jpg