Fold Mound – Shaoxing Mini Supernova Community Park by HID

As an urban waterfront community park, the site is a small greenland of 8,000 sq.meters surrounded by multiple community blocks, with small but long dimensions (60m*35m*109m). It takes the river as the venation, combines ecology, civilization and creativity of the Northern New town, becoming an important part of urban ecology and social recreation. It’s a park built by imagination.

It’ll be a new space for new life, a new starting point for a new green way and a new look for a new city.

Project Background:

The site is located in the Northern New Town, the core area of future development of Shangyu City, which is a new political, economic and cultural center and a high living standard area in the near future according to the perspective land-planning. From the perspective of the green space system, the LaoBaili River was once a branch of artificial irrigation. The green spaces on both sides of the river will become the green fingers running through the north and south of the new city, and our site will be the starting point. From this point of view, this greenspace of less than 8,000 square meters has its special meaning and mission. Its predictable that the east side of the LaoBaili River will be in a semi-developed state in the next 3-5 years. However, with the gradual advancement of the construction of the new city, the overall appearance will be gradually improved, therefore a better and attractive LaoBaili River Greenway it will become.

The site is surrounded by multiple community blocks, which are all currently under construction. with a small but rather long dimensions (60 meters wide in the north, 35 meters wide in the south with the length of 106 meters. ) The Liangzhu Avenue as an expressway, to a certain extent dilutes the relationship between this area and the old town. It will be an important community park within a 3 km distance of its surrounding area in the near future and also a main outdoor public space for residents from the northern area due to the lack of green space in the neighborhoods.

To summarize, the definition of this green space can be interpreted as: a small site carries a great future. It is small, but of great significance to the future urban life. It will be a new space for new life, a new starting point for a new greenway, and a new look for a new city.

Design Challenges :

1. How to connect it to its future. In this narrow and long field without large landform difference, it is important to arrange the entrance space reasonably so as to make it spatially linked to the future and it is more meaningful to conceive a story and connect it to the future spiritually. The former requires cautious analysis, while the latter requires unconstrained but reasonable imagination.

2. How to create an attractive space. This site should have an impressive theme to attract visitors, a space full of possibilities for interactions to make up the lack of greenspace in the neighborhoods.

3. How to balance the existing site resources while turning the site into a fun park within a tight budget.

Design Solution:

A story is brought to the site to give the city a green gift full of expectations. This urban place is hoped not only to satisfy the residents fro leisure activities, but also some small surprises.

One day, a super-mini supernova, passing by the earth’s magnetic field, accidentally slipped out of its orbit, pierced the atmosphere,
and fell into a field. After a series of actions, the supernova left indelible marks to the site then disappeared in sight. The traces left behind became various forms and activity spaces. Obviously the story of this supernova is a metaphor that implies how mini the site is as well as how important it meant to the future.

The spaces include: Rock Plaza, Hill Park, Galaxy Lawn, Stream Wonderland, Fold Mound.

Rock Plaza:

It’s a forest growing out of the cracks in the rock! There are meteor fragments left on the ground, they form triangular grassy slopes to become a complex square, which is a perfect place for skateboarding. It’s a flat and open entrance space of the site to bring people from all directions to the central area, which is also a perfect place for organizing various large-scale social activities

Hill Park:

The cracked rocks seem deliberately turned into waves of hills,there is a “wave-liked field”. Where children find this a fun place jumping around; where adults find their childhood memories, the joy to play in the nature! It’s a playground regardless of age and gender, where you can always find the unique way to get along with space, net-climbing, Hide&Seek, roller skating, running, jumping and etc. It is a space for recreational activities.

Galaxy Lawn:

The open lawn is a place where you can lie down and look up at the sky to wonder if there will be unknown stars fall down, or its a place simply for family gathering. It’s the core area of the site, the open lawn can accommodate various possibilities of activities, its purpose of becoming the most popular open space for the neighborhoods.

Stream Wonderland:

The long trace on the earth is the result of the friction between the meteorite and the ground. The water flows down naturally, jumps like a fairy in between us when press the surprising buttons. It’s a spacious central axis pathway slowly leads people to the highest point of the whole site. People can enjoy view from the open lawn area along the side while have great fun playing with the water equipment. It’s a linear space full of possibilities.

Fold Mound:

Thick folds made up the hills, can be visualized from the city to the south, between the space you may lie down, sit quietly and meditate, or its somewhere you want to walk by after meals. It’s a fun winding walkway leads people from the top to the low point of the site. WIth its landform advantage, it helps to collect rainwater to the city’s drainage system.

Afterword:

We believe an interesting design needs reliable design considerations as its foundations and the tireless on-site service as guarantee. Here we present this open space, an interesting community park to the city of Shaoxing as a little surprise, to give the surrounding residents an easy-to-use and fun leisure place to wonder and their expectations for a better social life.

Project location: Shaoxing City, Zhejiang Province, China
Design year: 2021
Year Built: 2021