A strategic landscape restoration in China

Sasaki has completed the first phase of the Chengdu Tianfu City Landscape, offering, “a new community that couples urban living and scenic mountain settings.”

Designed for Vanke, the 173-hectare development in the Sichuan Province of China is located at the intersection of the southern tip of the central axis, and the Longquan Mountain foothills.

Phase one of the Chengdu Tianfu City Landscape has been completed.

Years of farming in the area with no forest management meant that the site required extensive landscaping and ecological restoration, and Sasaki used GIS (Geographic Information System) to map and analyse the topographical features of the site, informing their plans for roads, trails, water systems and landscape zones.

Sasaki’s four visions were to create a public park that showcased Chengdu’s mountain terrains and vernacular landscapes, restore a healthy aquatic ecology by improving exiting water channels and drains to reestablish a ‘blue and green’ network in the ravines, preserve and reintroduce native species for diversity, and provide a range of outdoor activities and immersive experiences to engage residents and visitors with nature.

Sasaki teams set out to engage visitors to the park and offer a variety of activities.

The site is divided into the North Valley and South Valley, two interconnected neighbourhoods featuring brooks, wetlands and two scenic lakes. Riparian buffers between the parcels and waterways ensure water quality and prevent erosion.

Chengdu Tianfu City Landscape’s Stone Wall mitigates traffic noise.

A trail system can be used year-round, allowing for mountain biking, hiking, canopy walks and camping.

The steep slope facing Tianfu Avenue will feature a twisting path that reaches a landmark where the axis of environmental arts along the ridgeline begins.

This continues into the forest, and finishes with tree houses and meditation woods.

Sasaki says the first phase offers “a new community that couples urban living and scenic mountain settings.”

Surrounded by mountains and hills, the site features bamboo groves, ponds and brooks dotting the ravines, stone walls, reticulated brick walls, a tea pavilion and an animal adventure park.

Chengdu Tianfu City Landscape’s Stone Wall mitigates traffic noise and has a strong visibility along Tianfu Avenue. Inspired by the design of the landscape walls, its undulations accentuate the rolling terrain of the area, and its red sandstone is an abundant and popular local material.

The Sasaki team says they “enjoyed the opportunity to collaborate with a visionary client.”

The Ripple of the Water Adventure Park provides a pool for children to wade in, created from layers of thin granite, while the Cloud on the Hill Adventure Park features a 25x13-metre play structure made from steel covered by a netted maze.

Another feature, the Maze of the Field Adventure Park, takes its inspiration from a Chinese folk song that says, “when wind gently blows through tall grasses, cows and sheep emerge.” Board walks and pea stone paths wind through meadows, where gusts of wind makes wavy patterns amongst which children can play.

Sasaki principal Tao Zhang says that they, “enjoyed the opportunity to collaborate with a visionary client and strong local design partners to integrate urban development with a strategic landscape restoration.”

Bamboo groves are another feature of the project.