El parque insular de Nanjing Lingzhou

PROJECT STATEMENT

Lingzhou is one of the five beautiful islands in Xuanwu Lake, of the central Nanjing- the only royal garden left in South China. After 3 years ‘planning and construction, this nearly 25- acre island has been transformed as one of the most favorite destinations all around the Nanjing area.

Due to the Chinese stakeholders’ cooperation model (PPP program), the island has been decided as the recreation theme mainly targeting the younger population within Nanjing. Since this park is using the unique organization model—commissioned and paid for by the real estate company, but maintained and ultimately owned by the city’s park office. Therefore, the design team is of great value enabling the partnership to experiment with an ecologically and culturally rich public space into a popular and vibrant youth recreation place.

Since its opening, Lingzhou Island has welcomed tens of millions of visitors -a mix of locals, parents and children, couples, and visitors around the country. The provision of things for people to do, not just things to see, has helped form a local heritage constituency throughout the city and beyond, ensuring that the park to be an enduring facility.

PROJECT NARRATIVE

Background

In the central Nanjing City, Lingzhou has been one of the five islands within the Xuanwu

Lake Area，the last royal lake heritage in Southern China. Those five islands are connected with each other by bridge and dike. In summertime, Lotus flower full of the lake with the great views over the surrounded mountains together make this central Nanjing landscape as the national AAAAA scenic area.

Thousands of years of history provide Lingzhou Island with great natural performance. In the 60s to 90s, it used to be a vibrant urban recreation park for local residents. Bring

children to the park during weekends was a great local custom. Popular activities included visiting panda, giraffe, and other animals, taking the small train, and playing the Bumper Car. After rare animals and birds left the new address, the island lost its popularity for about 20 years.

Decision-making System and Design Challenge Returning to the recreation park is the preliminary economic plan made by the stakeholders’ panel. Consist of local government and the funding supplier, the PPP (Public Private -Partnership) program becomes a new decision-making system in China. To target the younger visitors and to bring back the previous traditional destination is definitely a great social and economic decision for the park. However, it is also a great challenge for the designer to equally consider the stakeholders’ needs and accommodate the space of the site, especially in this historically and culturally sensitive lake area.

Plant Reservation

Years of abandonment have greatly improved the ecological quality of the whole island,

however, made it difficult for building activity facilities, especially some playing

constructions for the younger children. To find the most precise line between natural

preservation and the control of facilities input has become the most challenge task in this project. 89 adult French Phoenix Trees and 329 other well-growing trees have been carefully selected and kept to set up the canopy of the forest on the island. All the French Phoenixes are almost 30m high and nearly 100 years old. Other species such as Cedar, Maple, Metasequoia composed of the whole original plantations group to establish the great green background of the future playing scene. To ensure the continuity of the original ecological stability and to better improve the

species diversity, the design team selected a few species of the ornamental and perennial such as pennies. Species with strong self-seeding ability could further reduce the difficulty of maintaining in the following years.

Recreation Facilities

After setting up the whole green stage, spaces were then proportioned to maximize the

recreation facilities satisfying the need in Nanjing City and inviting visitors from the nearby areas to play in the Xuanwu Lake. Five areas were divided around the island which invites families and children of all ages to a variety of outdoor experiences. 11 different kinds of facilities, such as the Trojan Horse and the Self-controlled Aircraft, were all arranged under the philosophy of “low-intervene” according to the site conditions. Besides the plaza space for public gathering purposes, the open lawn around the central Pet Center was also left open for different scales of gathering, the family camping, outdoor activities, parties, picnics, etc. The train tour route as the commuting system was also

carefully chosen based on the consideration of the comprehensive experience, ecology,

cost, storyline, and elevation. Passengers on the lovely train, inspired by the train style 20 years ago, could enjoy the view of the lake and far away mountain. All these facilities have attracted many little kids since its opening.

To further ensure the safety and sustainability, environmentally-friendly materials were

largely used in the project. Materials such as green PC bricks, aggregate concrete, and

artistic flooring materials were also able to bring a better playing experience. Besides, the usage of these materials could also provide the sponge city with a guarantee of more than 50% of the site's water permeability.

Lingzhou Island is a success because its designers balance the stakeholders’ benefits and accommodate the space of the site, both ecologically and culturally. Elements with great local imprints were recovered in many ways through the design process, such as the green dragon sculpture at the entrance gate. People who used to take photos here 20 years ago would also like to take photos with their children at the same place today. Things like this helped with the project to be not purely space design task but also part of the cultural rejuvenation among local people.