The project is located on Lake Fuxian, in Yuxi City, Yunnan Province, China. It has high quality landscape resources in the aspects of water source, air quality and climate. Therefore, in the process of design, we take full account of the protection of the original environment, the water resource and ecological diversity, as well as maximize these natural advantages in the project.
However, there are some environmental problems such as stony deserts and mudslide in the site. Thus, in the process of design and build, we also consider how to restore the original plants, improve the soil quality and reduce erosion, in order to contribute to the restoration of environment. After ten years of hard work, we gradually achieve the goals by means of the sustainable use and protection of water resources, the management of land resources, the ecological restoration of vegetation, and the creation of wildlife habitat.
Inspired by the nature stone at the lake, we come up with the design concept of Ecological Stepping Stone, combining the nature context with the modern plan and various function zones. In an another word, the Ecological Stepping Stone is the balance point between nature and human beings. This idea goes throughout the project in various aspects such as commerce, ecology, leisure, entertainment, humanistic landscape, education of popular science, sports and so forth, and creates different functional zones. Finally, it becomes an ecological, sustainable and idyllic landscape by the lake. Moreover, the concept of Ecological Stepping Stone also has a traditional significance for the project and the site.
The sustainable use and protection of water resources
1. The 110-meter width ecological green belt by the lake
The more we know about the site, the more we consider about the ecological aspects in the process of design and build. Therefore, we remove the sales’ center and other structures by the lake, and set up a 110-meter width ecological green belt as a buffer zone. Moreover, we preserve a large area of original plants, replace the exotic ones, and reduce soil erosion in an ecological way.
2. The spillway
The spillway is build along the canal, in order to contribute to the ecological environment. It works for flood discharge, regulation, storage and purification. During the monsoon season ( July to August ), the spillway purify the rainwater before it goes into the lake as a control of water quality. The purification process of the spillway: the water goes into the canal through the physical filtration instrument, the sedimentation tank, the water purification equipment, the oxygen exposure fall, the aquatic plants, and finally flow into the lake. It also works for the purification of the environment of the place. Moreover, the spillway is in the form of curve line with plants hanging on the banks for ornamental value. We also use aquatic plants to ensure the effect of beauty and decoration in dry season.
The management of land resource
The invasive alien species lead to rocky desertification of the soil, which effect the ecological system and human habitat. On the one hand, we improve the soil by means of restoring vegetation to control and prevent the spread of desertification. These plants include which leguminous pants, which could fix nitrogen, shallow-rooted plants, vines, and some native species. They could grow well by improving fertility of the soil. On the other hand, we carry out some engineering measures in some severe areas to accelerate the process of soil restoration, such as adding soil additives and deep digging the soil. Moreover, we also set up the ecological plant community to increase the speed of soil restoration and nature succession.
The ecological restoration of vegetation
We have two major approaches for the restoration of vegetation in site. On the one hand, we keep the relatively intact typical ecological place and the native plants while removing the invasive ones. On the other hand, we introduce some fruit trees and crops with ornamental value to rich the structure of plant community. Given the view along the lake, the major species are ornamental grasses and small trees.
The creation of wildlife habitat
We build wetlands with a belt distribution, ecological ponds and facilities for water resource protection at downstream, in order to protect plants, improve water quality and enhance the ability of self-purification. These waters and wetlands also provide habitat and food sources for fishes and birds such as sea gulls, coots, wild ducks, egrets, swallows and so forth. Meanwhile, there are also some animals like squirrels, common tigers, and owls in this place. Moreover, the walkways here are all built on stilts to protect the free passage of amphibians and the ecological corridor between the lake and the 110-meter width ecological protection zone. In this sense, we get both the best scenery as well as the vital ecological system.
Conclusion
The project of Starry Town contributes to the rare nature environment by means of landscape design and ecological improvement. In the whole process, we are not just focusing on landscape design, but also taking full account of ecological environment. Even more exciting, when the project completes, the residents around are happy to go there, some of them even stay quite late. It creates the public awareness for ecological environment and nature beauty and build a harmony relationship between human and nature.
Naslov projekta: The FUXIAN LAKE ECOLOGICAL PARK
Short office name: BLUES/AECOM
Project category (Public Project, Infrastructure, Residential housing park, Private garden, Hospitality)
PUBLIC LANDSCAPE PROJECT
Role of your office in the project:
Landscape design by AECOM ; Construction drawing by BLUES
Other designers involved in the design of landscape (if any):
AECOM : Stone Shen ;Xu Wang; Xiaoqing Zhao;Xinyu Zhao ; Wenbin Guo ; Xiaojiao Guo ; Xiaoyu Yang ; Dongwei Li ; Yuehua Li ; Dan Jiang ; Yuan Zhang.
BLUES :Yong Zhang ;Da Zhang ; Hai Li ; Yangyu Linhu ; Linlin Gong ; Jun Zhang ; Huabin Wu ; Hui Chen.
Design management team : Jeremy Xiao ; Xiaofei Xu ; Di Ma ; Mingfu Xu ; Hongjun LUO.
Project location (Street, City, Country):
Qinyuwan1# LuJu town Chengjiang City, CHINA Yunnan Province
Design year:
2018/08
Year Built:
2019/09
