880-meter-long Riverside Connects Urban Forest
Photo by Yang Borong
By Chen Yi
A few days ago, the upgrading and reconstruction of Hongkou Riverside Landscape was completed. The scope of the renovation is Guoke Section and Zhiyang Section of the riverside green space in Hongkou District, connecting Hongkou Port in the west, Gongping Road in the East, East Daming Road in the north, and 880-meter-long riverside of Guoke Center Wharf of the North Bund waterfront in the south, covering an area of about 57,652.4 square meters. In promoting the development and construction of the North Bund, Hongkou integrates and penetrates the "soft values" such as functions, rules, services and environment, and takes the people's feelings as the most fundamental yardstick to build a poetic home for the people and provide high-quality supporting services, so as to make the urban area more delicate and warm.
The Reconstruction of Road Network Structure Straight Forward to Huangpu River
Based on the urban forest, the reconstruction project generally reconstructs the road network structure straight forward to Huangpu River. Through the systematic design and overall improvement of the riverside green space, functional layout and green planting, it creates an open viewing space along the Huangpu River, so that the citizens can experience the accessible natural ecological rest space.
In order to improve the accessibility of riverside public space, Hongkou opened the corridor straight forward to the river at the entrance of East Daming Road and renovated the main garden path. It retained the existing concept of the open-air museum of wharf culture of the garden paths in the design, but re-laid the stepping stones with the seal of wharf culture that was originally scattered in the riverside green space according to the time axis, from Jinliyuan Wharf in 1762 with close ties with Qianqing Palace to Huangpu River Wharf in 1911. The main garden path paved with gray granite with deep and light colors means the winding tide and the ups and downs of shipping history and culture.
Meanwhile, it updated and combed the vegetation on both sides of the garden paths with flower border and seasonal trees to fully open the riverside view. The "Yunfan Garden" on one side of the garden path sets off red boats and white sails with green bamboos and blue sky. The green lawn is like a sea, and the colorful flower border is like waves. It guides the public to walk towards the riverside and also has a panoramic view of the landmark building of Lujiazui on the other side of the Huangpu River.
The characteristic view garden transformation project, which aims to change the scene with walking, created six view gardens. In addition to the "Yunfan Garden" at the entrance of East Daming Road, they are Yunying Garden, Yunsheng Garden, Dishui Garden, Zhijue Garden and Dielian Garden, each of which has its own features. The main scene of the "Yunying Garden" is a huge seed-shaped mirror stainless steel sculpture, which indicates the development prospect that the new round of development and construction of the North Bund begins from the "seed". "Yunsheng garden" takes Rhododendron as the theme variety, matched with maple forest, fern, moss, and etc., which means all living beings coexist in harmony. The imitation natural fog scene fully shows the wonderful scene of "mountains shrouded in clouds and mist". In the "Dishui Garden" in front of the Music Gate, the water-drop-shaped sculpture reflects the thousands of sails of the Pujiang River and the rapid development of the city. Zhijue Garden" is made up of shade plants such as ferns and mosses to simulate the population and community configuration of natural habitat, so as to build a garden experience of "perception, viewing ferns and unconsciousness" for citizens. The solid wood box stool in the "Dielian Garden" has a beautiful curve, butterflies flying in the hydrangeas that are surrounded by the tropical plants such as phoenix canariensis and Phoenix loureiriis, as if you were on the tropical Gold Coast.
In combination with the theme of celebrating the centennial of the founding of the Communist Party of China, the Zhiyang Section adopts nearly 10 kinds of colorful flowers and vegetation such as perennial chamomiles, verbena hybridas and geraniums, and paves 100-meter-long flowing and winding colored flower belts in combination with natural terrain, just like colored flags flying in the wind.
It is worth mentioning that the project adheres to ecological sustainable development, by fully respecting and making use of the original landform, appropriately creating micro slope terrain, and comprehensively considering the terrain drainage and landscape effect. The landscape furniture in the site is made of renewable materials. Among them, the leisure stool on the side of the most beautiful riverside post station in Zhiyang Section is made by recycling and processing 160,000 milk boxes.
As a valuable corner of the "Golden Triangle" in the city center of Shanghai, the North Bund in Hongkou has unique geographical advantages. The reconstructed and upgraded riverside green space integrates ecological corridor, rest, sightseeing and sports. It has been successively opened with the 880-meter-long riverside of Guoke Center Wharf of the North Bund waterfront, becoming a new landmark for citizens to visit.