Colina Verde

Design Strategy of Simultaneously Reducing Carbon Emissions and Creating Carbon Sinks

The Chinese government has incorporated carbon peaking and carbon neutrality into the overall framework of ecological civilization construction. The target is to achieve carbon peaking by 2030 and carbon neutrality by 2060. This aims to promote the control of pollution sources, achieve simultaneous reduction of carbon emissions and pollutants, and improve the quality of the ecological environment. It also aims to mitigate climate change, especially the adverse effects of extreme weather events, reduce losses to people's lives, properties, and the economy, and promote biodiversity conservation and enhance ecosystem services.

In addressing the challenge of mitigating climate change, Green Hill employs landscape strategies to reduce carbon emissions and create carbon sinks. On one hand, Green Hill, originally scheduled for demolition, is preserved and repurposed as a urban public space, greatly reducing carbon emissions associated with demolition operations. On the other hand, Green Hill incorporates vertical greening systems, multi-level sky gardens, and visually appealing and circular rainwater systems to enhance ecological diversity, improve local microclimate, and to some extent, create regional carbon sinks.

Return the Water Back to its People—Ecological Complex at the Yangpu Waterfront by Challenging the Restrictions on Land Use and Architectural Regulations

Situated in the middle of the 5.5-kilometer-long Southern Yangpu Waterfront Public Space, Green Hill is a complex consisted of public transportation, urban infrastructure, office, exhibition hall, coffee shop and urban park. The former mechanical warehouse of Shanghai Tobacco Co. Ltd was meant to be dismantled, but now it is covered with green plants and connects the waterfront with its urban hinterland. Green Hill project is experimental in multi-facets. The building is preserved by taking away the walls of the two central spans at the ground floor and letting the planned road pass underneath, thus challenging the traditional land use for infrastructure. It breaks the barrier between the waterfront and its hinterland by setting up a slope extending from the architecture to the road in the north, forming a wandering path from the city to the waterfront. It opens up the city to the river by cutting off part of the building, reducing its oppression to the waterfront and shaping layered setback platforms. The project thus provides people with abundant and sensitive experiences and unexpected opportunities.

1. An Industrial Building Scheduled for Demolition

Originally constructed in 1996 as a mechanical warehouse for Shanghai Tobacco Co. Ltd., the reinforced-concrete building was slated for demolition due to the planned construction of An Pu Road beneath it. The design team devised a solution by accurately understanding the structural framework at ground level and removing the walls at the two middle bays, measuring 7 meters in height and 4 meters in width. This made it possible for the road to pass through while complying with transportation and fire regulations. As a result, the building was successfully preserved and multiple land use was achieved vertically.

2. A Carved-Out Hill

Green Hill has originally a volume of 30-meter-high, 40-meter-wide and 100-meter-long. It is located at the bank of Huangpu River in Yangpu District, merely 10 meters to the waterfront, causing a great oppressing sensation and blocking the connection from city to water. The design proposes to dismantle the entire 6th floor and cut the structure diagonally both in the southwestern and northeastern directions, forming layered setback platforms that articulate a path from Yangshupu Road at the north to the waterfront at the south.

3. Not Just a Building, But a City Park

Viewed from above, the building dissolves into the surrounding park greenery. The grassy slopes winding up from Yangshupu Road, the terraced platforms carved out of the building, and the rooftop garden are all covered with greenery. The building's facade is also wrapped in vertical greenery, creating a three-dimensional, permeable city park.

4. A Unique Complex in Shanghai

Green Hill is a complex that integrates infrastructure, public services, and park greenery into one entity covered by green vegetation and connecting the city with the riverbank. In the context of China, it breaks through the singularity of land use and transcends the regulations prohibiting the covering of municipal roads. It achieves a high degree of mixing between municipal and civil buildings, re-naturalizes technical bodies, connects the riverbank and its urban hinterland through a single building, returns the river to the people, and becomes a unique complex in Shanghai.

Combining the Rigid Transformation of Industrial Building Structural Framework with the Soft Insertion of Sky Gardens

The design removes the high walls and windows of the original industrial building that obstructed the view, reconnecting the internal activities and plant growth with the external environment, and transforming the once-closed multi-story warehouse into an ecological base where sunlight, rain, and breeze can penetrate.

Using protective demolition techniques for the original building structure system, the waterfront interface is cut from a steep 30m high interface into a terraced space that gradually recedes, forming a platform for receiving sunlight and rain and viewing the river. At the same time, part of the original concrete floor slab is removed and the slab surface is recast under the beam to obtain a higher soil cover space, which has won soil thickness for plant growth. The plant configuration of all three-dimensional spaces also takes into account their special overhead status, selecting native high-tolerance and low-maintenance plants such as Pennisetum alopecuroides, Deutzia scabra, Osmanthus fragrans, Acer buergerianum, and Phellodendron amurense. And with the configuration principles of terrestrial landscape, a three-dimensional plant landscape with scale effect is formed. The completion of the project has set an example for the combination of existing building renovation and "Skyrise Greenery", and at the same time proposed new design concepts and technical approaches for the renovation of existing buildings.

Pedestrian Bridge, Sky garden, Three-Dimensional Garden Paths, and the Interaction of Internal Dynamic Functions

The vertical greenery design of this project is an active system that is closely integrated with the external urban functions and internal spatial circulation, rather than passive decoration. We opened the originally closed warehouse to form an organic body related to the city. The entire space is imagined as an pedestrian bridge + three-dimensional garden + shared exhibition hall, and the stacked greening has also become a system that interacts with these functions. Unlike a simple pedestrian bridge, the use of skyrise greenery guides the behavior of crossing the street to be completed unconsciously in a relaxed and free garden experience. The gardens set on each floor are also related to the building’s wandering path, realizing the scenery changes with each step in the three-dimensional space. The indoor exhibition space also forms a good interaction with the garden system, so that the behavior of viewing an exhibition is carried out in a green environment. The completion of Green Hill provides a more systematic model for the application of vertical greenery and achieves a high degree of integration between three-dimensional greening and spatial functions.

Vertical Greening of Facades Achieves Re-Naturalization of Technical Complex

The implementation of the vertical greening system on the façade is accomplished through the integration of steel cables and climbing vegetation, supplanting the pre-existing solid wall. The objective is to subtly exhibit the internal configuration of the ground-level services, second-level circulation, and upper-level activity zones while mitigating external road disturbances and intense western sunlight. With respect to construction, a steel structure deck is cantilevered beyond the original concrete frame structure and overlaid with planting containers, irrigation mechanisms, and natural lighting systems for the building. The arrangement of prestressed steel strand cables forms a guiding structure for climbing vegetation, resulting in a highly replicable vertical greening construction system in the domain of existing building renovation.

The design of the railing incorporates considerations for safeguarding, drainage interception, and vegetation growth. Planting containers and drainage channels are allocated along the outer perimeter of the floor slab, with staggered metal vertical poles positioned above the planting containers. This arrangement facilitates plant climbing while fulfilling the handrail requirements of the railing system. The entire railing system of the building is integrated into its vertical greening system, resulting in a cohesive structural system that amalgamates railings, plant climbing frames, planting containers, and drainage channels.

Sky Gardens as a Lighting Strategy and Aerial Landscape Trees as Public Art

The design features an atrium situated in the center of the building above the city road. This serves as a daylighting strategy to introduce natural light into the interior and eliminate the dark atmosphere typically associated with large slabbed structures. The atrium is encircled by a double helix staircase that connects all floors. In the center of the atrium, a cluster of Zelkova trees is planted in a suspended planting pod. The original floor slab was removed and two blocks in the original beam grid were lowered. Structural reinforcement and soil piling within the grid provide sufficient space for tree growth. Utilizing precise lifting technology, an 8-meter-tall tree was successfully transplanted into the atrium. Light simulation analysis was employed to carefully evaluate tree growth and ensure a high survival rate post-transplantation. Four years after completion, the trees have grown healthily and become a visual focal point of the public atrium, serving as a fusion of art and ecology. The design reflects the harmonious coexistence of humans and nature, promoting an ecological concept that inspires individuals to appreciate and value the natural environment.

Strategies for Rainwater Systems with Aesthetic and Recyclable Features

Due to the inherent constraints of renovation projects, it is not feasible to systematically conceal the conventional negative drainage system. As a result, the design team employed a system that integrates drainage chains and GRC drainage ditches, transforming the originally unfavorable rainwater system into a landscape element that enhances the overall appearance and ambiance of the building and its surroundings. The rainwater chain collects rainwater from the building’s floors and directs it to the ground-level rainwater retention zone, where it flows into the drip irrigation system, forming a closed-loop rainwater collection system that can be recycled. This approach also introduces a visually appealing and sustainable technical solution for vertical greening in the field of building renovation.

A Manifesto for the Mode of Regeneration of Existing Environments

Green Hill is a historical building that was originally slated for demolition but was ultimately preserved. It is a hill that has been sculpted into existence and serves as a significant node for public circulation. It is a multi-layered green park and a systematic renovation that addresses history, public activity, and sustainability goals, resulting in a multi-functional ecological complex. The design approach entailed more than simply introducing greenery; it also involved the creation of a systematic, three-dimensional, and ecological approach to urban design. Through an ecological renovation within the scope of urban design, Green Hill integrated human activity and the surrounding environment in a three-dimensional and systematic manner, presenting a model of harmonious coexistence between humans and nature.