Reconstruction of North Suzhou Road (Hongkou Section) Completed
The "Origin of Riverside" viewing platform. Photo by Qi Chuanbin
By Qi Chuanbin
On
December 21, the renovation of the riverside space connection and upgrading
project of
Standing on the Suzhou Creek Corridor beside the Suzhou Estuary and the Garden Bridge of Shanghai and looking to the west, you will firstly see the viewing platform named the "Origin of Riverside" whose greening shape is like a butterfly. The viewing platform makes full use of both sides of the terrain to form a terraced garden under the forest and attracts citizens and tourists. An official of the Hongkou District Construction Management Committee said that the 460-square-meter viewing platform came into being after dismantling the original parking lot and the transformer substation. It can put the old Shanghai’s tourist attractions including the Garden Bridge of Shanghai and Shanghai Mansion and the new Shanghai tourist attractions: four great mansions in Lujiazui, Shanghai into one photo frame. At night, it looks more beautiful in lights, and it is also the best viewing platform. "After the official opening, many people will visit here, and it will become the best place to view the Suzhou Creek and the Huangpu River." The office building of the original maritime terminal nearby was reconstructed into an accessible, readable and experiential riverside service station, forming a public service space characterized by tourism and leisure, culture display as well as the most beautiful water station.
It is reported that Hongkou Section of the Suzhou Creek starts from the Garden Bridge of Shanghai in the east, and ends at North Henan Road in the west with a total length of about 900 meters. Located at the intersection of the Huangpu River and the Suzhou Creek, it is an important transformation node between the River and the Creek. There are many excellent historic buildings with profound cultural heritages along the riverside. However, the parking lot, the transformer substation, the wharf office building, the water quality monitoring facilities and even some illegal construction originally set up along the Creek undermined the landscape of the whole waterfront space. Therefore, according to the overall development strategic planning of the Suzhou Creek, Hongkou put forward the vision of the most beautiful riverside reception hall, took the combination of fashion, Shanghai style and historical features as the design orientation, and built a high-quality waterfront space with the features of pedestrian paths, leisure and full time, so as to realize the transformation goal of three links and three promotions, namely, the paths-and-corridors’ link, the scenic spots’ link and the looks’ link as well as the promotion of anti-flood landscape, the promotion of riverside paths and the promotion of the riverside buildings and surrounding public spaces. Thus, the public can feel the waterfront charm of the Suzhou Creek in an all-round way.
As the starting section of the public space connecting and upgrading project on both sides of the Suzhou Creek, the four elements of sharing, accessibility, vitality and integration are highlighted in the overall reconstruction process. In order to create a comfortable and leisure riverside space of slow life, Hongkou actively coordinated with the municipal traffic management departments and units along the creek, and realized the overall prohibition of motor vehicles on North Suzhou Road (the west side of Wusong Road) in Hongkou. The corridor along the river was expanded to between 3 to 5 meters, and the street space was expanded to between 6 to 8 meters. The road space was further returned to the slow traffic, and North Suzhou Road was built into a road with the characteristics of pedestrian paths, leisure and full time. At the same time, the breakpoints were completely removed by means of replacement, demolition and other measures, and all the riverside spaces along the Creek were vacated, so as to achieve an overall access. On the basis of removing the breakpoints, the supporting landscape improvement project was implemented to build the street into a living room. Four distinctive theme gardens, namely "Blue Dream", "Time", "Messenger" and "Starry Sky" were interspersed in it, so that the citizens could enjoy the beautiful scenery along the Suzhou Creek, experience the garden-style walk and strengthen their understanding of the block.
Relying on the rich resources of excellent historical buildings such as Shanghai Mansion and the Post Office Building along the Creek, Hongkou also adhered to inheriting and displaying the historical and cultural connotations, innovatively coordinates the integration of modern urban life and historical space, and constructs the harmonious beauty of one bank and four sections. For example, the "Bellagio Hotel Leisure Viewing Section" was characterized by the hotel, the service station and other leisure services, which combined urban life with tourism services, so that the public could experience the high-quality environment and enjoy the ultimate scenery. The "Postal Building Style Display Section", based on national-treasure-level historical building, linked the waterfront landscape, the footpaths and the buildings together to form a waterfront landscape avenue.
In addition, the municipal facilities were reduced and beautified simultaneously in the connection and upgrading project, all the overhead lines along the Creek were put under ground, 11 cement poles along the Creek were removed, and all kinds of boxes along the Creek were reduced to 9, with a box combination rate of 72.7%, and the boxes were beautified in the form of art painting.