Urban Green Valley

With this site (called Arcadia) positioned in the center of Shanghai, we wanted to create a public commercial district that differs from the traditional fully enclosed community. This commercial district connects the site with Jiangpu Park directly to the south with the riverside greenbelt to the east, providing residents and the public with many opportunities to explore an urban “green valley” with an integrated boundary within these surroundings.

In China, historically, commercial projects provided only enough space for shops and advertising boards, often abandoning suitable outdoor space for trees or landscaping, citing they’d “block” views or opportunity to promote businesses. These days, however, multimedia diversification has enabled a different shopping or business experience, one which does not depend significantly on random passersby. Furthermore, the improvement in living standards has enhanced people’s demand for quality outdoor space. The traditional large hardscape plaza no longer attracts and retains visitors. Thus, we aimed for a place that first would suit people’s various forms of activities, which would then lead them to stay and enjoy the commercial value of the surrounding district.

In the overall planning and positioning, we connected to Jiangpu Park on the south side and the riverside walkway on the east—forming a beneficial green space for visitors to stroll through and enjoy, at the same time driving the commercial vitality of the entire riverside area into a community retail street.

Our landscape design inherited the design language that is consistent with the architectural design. The commercial space is designed as an emotional experience brought on by nature. It subverts the traditional and rigid large-scale commercial block form and creates an immersive forest-like green valley “commercial” experience by means of natural, mixed planting. The scale of the design touches on the region’s historic references to a traditional Shanghai laneway, but here our focus is to create a unique take on this open, three-dimensional green community commercial block. Our landscape design language is extracted from the architecture, so by integrating the landscape and the architecture into the concept of an urban green valley, the entire space retains an active business atmosphere.

We went beyond the traditional tree canopy motif and maximized the greening areas by planting on different floor levels, creating a three-dimensional forest. We continued the layered appearance of the buildings by humanizing the scale piece by piece, making each aspect a reduced version of the landscape elements to derive various beautiful and chic leisure spaces.

We adjusted what were direct fire access passages into curves, so that the greenery surrounding the passages is staggered, effectively “raising the green volume” to create the effect of space wrapped in greenery. The completed elevated platform is also wrapped in greenery, providing a strong green visual impact from any viewpoint, allowing pedestrians to be seen walking through the site just as if they are in a forest. The urban furniture is a barrier-free, light, and suspended bench. Different heights formed through the folding of the floor coverings satisfy the different scale needs of adults and children.  We designed a delightful waterscape that extends to project entrance, making the circulating water a three-dimensional and layered art installation, retaining the focus of sight on all sides. In order to continue the texture of the original lane, both sides of the entrance are deliberately narrowed to form the street life space of old Shanghai; under the green decoration, it is filled with a memorable and lively atmosphere.

The second level of the exhibition center features a garden shared by the district’s residents. The design combines the bookstore functions of the exhibition center as well as accommodates the needs of the community gym and residents. The garden is divided into two areas: both the private and relatively public areas. The side that is close to the bookstore is the public reading space, allowing users to read books while appreciating the winding and green small-scale forest. At the end of the forest is a little square where small-scale activities can be organized, including space under the tree shade for outdoor yoga. On the other side of the garden is a private garden that allows residents to enjoy a close interaction with the natural world. Here, residents can experience the charm of seasonal plants to alleviate the stresses of city life. There are four exquisitely designed and carefully positioned cantilever platforms that protrude unwittingly as a quiet invitation to people to visit Jiangpu Park and other Shanghai landmarks. The west platform and the lantern-like landscape corridor are combined to indicate the start of the site experience. Also on the second level is a bar seating area in the water, a highlight and feature of the project. It includes two main design details: its safety railings are decorated with special light strips that act as a precaution against accidental falls into the water, and three rotating dining tables under the special light strips meet the functions of outdoor dining and partying.

As a final note, planting also creates a “space.” Our design pays significant attention to the overall mood of the plants rather than the display of design per se, by focusing on the stable ecological lifecycle of plant relationships. Following the rule of competition in nature, the plants are allowed to grow freely, to infiltrate, to intermingle, to reach a harmonious and natural state of growth that conveys the beauty of cyclical plant life changes. Both the natural and urban landscapes will continue to grow and flourish naturally through the seasons, allowing people to appreciate the thrilling beauty of nature, which bestows an inner joy.