Liangzhu 20th Anniversary Renewal Plan | ANTAO | World Design Awards 2021

ANTAO: Winner of World Design Awards 2021. Twenty years ago, Liangzhu Cultural Village opened the model of an idyllic city in China.

In the past 20 years, Liangzhu Cultural Village has witnessed the development of the city. The original old facilities can no longer meet the current needs of residents. The lush public parks between communities are now quieter and less vibrant.

On the occasion of the 20th anniversary, Vanke launched the renewal plan and commissioned us to micro-renovate the public space of the old community, hoping to provide villagers with a more practical and comfortable public area environment, upgrade residents’ life experience, and stimulate community vitality.

Starting from the owner’s needs, the two children’s play areas, basketball courts, elderly areas, lawn areas, and hedgerow areas were transformed and upgraded, combined with the products of Vanke Vitality Center, with children with the highest frequency of space experience as the core unit to promote this And drive the interaction of the whole age community.

We use the happiness factor composed of Andorphins and endorphins, and the vitality factor composed of T cells and dopamine to form Lohas cells, which are injected into the natural park, allowing Lohas cells to continuously renew and grow in the park, releasing happiness and vitality.

Based on the principle of “respecting natural texture, preserving good memories of life and improving residents’ life experience”, we ensure the public area environment without major demolition and construction, without hindering the normal life of residents, and without destroying the original time memory of the park. Rebirth has brought vitality to the entire community. Throughout the micro-update process, we put more attention on “people”, making people more comfortable, making people’s lives more diversified, and making the cultural village more connected and warmer because of people.

In the past few days after the micro-update was basically completed, there were more people coming to the park. During the process of using them, they also discovered our pre-buried “surprise”: each activity venue in the Egret Park was equipped with a sink. Hands can be washed at any time after sports games; “punctuation marks” are engraved on the stools so that people can use “!” “#” as appointment signs…

Hearing the villagers said “this park is really good!”, seeing parents and children playing in the warm autumn sun, and the whole venue filled with laughter, the ideal community in their minds gradually took on a real look. What kind of “place” will the 20-year-old Liangzhu Cultural Village become in the future? Stay tuned for the next article!

// Renewal Consensus

Liangzhu Cultural Village has become “a place of dreams to live” not only because of its landscape environment, but also its “loving” community service system, the owners jointly explore the model of community autonomy and the villagers are willing to build a better life community together. This renewal is an exploration for Vanke and the villagers to improve the living experience and build a beautiful community together. In a place with lush vegetation, natural harmony of all things and the good memories of the villagers, Vanke and we have reached consensus on the renewal.

Take the latest product, focus on the improvement of aesthetics and functions and do not make things that are popular but with poor-quality. Do repairs to preserve the natural texture; replace the venue and equipment with safe, stable and durable types, and use bright and light colors to embellish the ground; even if some check-in points are made, it will still be based on nature itself rather than artificial.

Based on these principles, the team and us used the following strategies: taking the functional needs of the villagers as the leading factor, preserving site memory; respecting nature, preserving all trees in the site, and re-arrange the shrubs that are in poor conditions and have obscured the view; Using methods of partial renovation, functional upgrades, repairs, and boundary penetration, the site ,then, is “micro” updated.

// The Story Of The Venue

Liangzhu Cultural Village has a profound historical background, beautiful ecological environment and works of world-class art masters. We are divided into three groups: humanities, landscapes, and art lines. Through time-based field research, opinion leaders return visits, and villagers’ opinions collection, Observation and recording of site usage, analyzing of the nature of the entire cultural village site and summarizing the sites that are in urgent need of restoration and sites that can tap natural ecological advantages and potential values.

Although the cultural village has a favorable natural environment, the ecological, livable, and tourist value of the sector still needs to be explored; although it has become a realistic sample of an ideal community, it does not have a unified visual image and lacks a sense of public domain; although it has multiple ecological spaces, The facilities are old and damaged for a long time. Based on these issues, it is finally determined to focus on the Bailu Park, Binhe Park, Tea Park, Mine Park and other public spaces for renewal.

In the process of renovation, there are also many problems and challenges–because the park is close to the residential area, the noise generated by the renovation will affect the surrounding residential areas, the construction archive drawings do not match the status quo, and the underground foundation and drainage problems are unclear , However, many beautiful stories were also happened.

// From The Story Of Egret Park

Egret Park was built in 2008 and is a green hinterland specially left in the middle of the village in the initial planning. As an important part of the “Green Finger” of the cultural village extending from the forest to the riverside, there are many tree-lined lawns in the park, as well as a stream that flows down from the Daxiongsi Reservoir. Many children have picnics and play here. Villagers’ basketball teams and tennis clubs often hold activities here. Due to the high frequency of use, problems such as site damage and aging facilities have gradually emerged.

Nevertheless, this site with multiple natural spaces such as lawns, big trees, vegetation, streams, etc. deeply moved us. We wanted to give this site more meaning, make it glow with new vitality, and let the “green finger” last forever.

  • Children’s play area – the playful artists of Andorphine Paradise

Andorphine, a hormone secreted by the brain that can make people feel happy, harmonious and self-healing. Combining with the latest products of Vanke Vitality Center, the Andorphine Children’s Paradise is rebuilt with playful artists and natural designers. We transform the graphic language of cells into design elements of the venue, allowing children to release their nature in the game, gain growth in nature, and inject more vitality, happiness, and health into their childhood.

The children’s area was originally a sand pit with a combination of instruments. The sand pit has been stepped on a large area, and the drainage is not smooth after rain, and it is easy to accumulate water; the combination equipment has been damaged, and there is a potential safety hazard; the sitting stool for nursing is too high, the wood board is rotten, and the growth of plants invades the sitting space. We preserved the site shape to avoid damage to surrounding trees. Replacement of safer and more comfortable plastic floor, increased drainage of pipes at the bottom; replacement of combined equipment, new seesaw, rocking horse equipment; lowering of the seat stool to a suitable height, and renovation of the stool surface.

The exit of the children’s area is facing a ginkgo forest, which has a great sense of space and place. We want to make use of this ginkgo forest to realize the infiltration of space, create a natural classroom under the forest next to the children’s area. Combined with the nature education theme of the botanical garden, we set up a plant cognition garden and an “insect Hotel” to let children absorb natural energy and perceive the wisdom of nature.

There was a simple slide and a seesaw. Due to wind and rain, the wood of the seesaw was decayed and the ground was occupied by weeds.

We refurbished the venue, covered the floor with environmentally friendly and comfortable plastic, and installed seesaws of different lengths for different groups of people. The simplest cooperative game, exercise children’s cooperation and balance ability, adults and children play together happily.

  • Basketball court – Lohas basketball court

The basketball court turned out to be the most vibrant place in the entire park. Due to disrepair, the ground, seats, and low-wall benches on the court were severely damaged, which did not meet the new national standard basketball court markings, and lacked warm-up and training venues. It was silent for a while.

We re-match the basketball court and the national training ground with vibrant and dynamic paving colors to create a Lohas basketball court. Before preparing for construction, it coincided with the training of the junior basketball team, and I told us a lot of usage requirements: “The court is too close to the protective net, and the lighting is not bright”. After returning, we immediately organized a meeting and adjusted the plan: replacement The equipment of the basketball court is placed in the national sports module, the original stone is changed to rubber, the court markings are adjusted, and the western boundary of the court is enlarged…

  • Fitness area for the elderly – Dopamine friends

The elderly fitness area is a venue for a group of old friends and neighbors to exercise and exchange. Although the fitness equipment has been aging, the roadside near the stream is also in disrepair, the lawn is degraded and soil is exposed, and the road is full of mud every rainy day, but there are still many elderly people come here to exercise, we want to repair this site, so that the elderly can better exercise, communicate here, and maintain vitality and health.

We have dredged the green plants around the site, replaced fitness equipment, and renewed a more comfortable and environmentally friendly floor covering. On the day after the renovation, the two older aunts passed by, and after watching for a while, they said, “I didn’t expect it to be repaired so well here. I will come to take a walk every day.”

  • Hedgerow stakes – natural labyrinth

There was a circular green fence next to the activity area for the elderly, surrounding a huge array of heather trees, which was a natural base for children to hide and seek. We want to preserve and strengthen the memory of the site, add a circle of natural hedges and drill tube game modules to form a large natural labyrinth, allowing children to perceive the joy of the fun space while walking.

  • Lawn swing – swing paradise

There was a wooden swing on the original lawn. Due to long-term use, the wooden frame has shaken a bit, and the lawn on the ground has degenerated into mud. In the process of research, we found that both adults and children like swings. The swing always allows us to relax and remember the carefree memories of childhood.

We decided to keep the memory of the lawn swings in the site, adding single, double, multi-person, parent-child, and various swings under the forest, lawn, and streams, turning it into a swing paradise.

  • Seeds of Art in the Forest – Secret Language in the forest

A lush big tree on the lawn in the hedge space attracted us. It was like the big tree that used to sit around the village as a child, full of story scenes. We designed a bench for whispering in the woods. The elves in the woods turned into benches and formed a circle to listen to the whispers of memories and tell the secrets of my heart.

// Those People And Things In Binhe Park

In Liangzhu Cultural Village, running has become the most popular sport. In the eyes of villagers, there is nothing more romantic than running to say good morning to each other.

The Riverfront Park was built in 2013. The natural and ecological riverside landscape, the open and abundant green space and the 2 kilometers of fitness track, running, morning exercises, dog walking, walking… and the spontaneous morning market at the head of Du Fu bridge, the fireworks of life, in this natural riverside grows lively. Compared with Egret Park, Binhe Park presents a more modern and younger state. It only needs to be refurbished and improved in function.

  • Riverfront runway

In this natural ecological park, listening to the birdsong, breathing in the fresh air, and slowly feeling the dopamine of running is the beginning of a happy day. The riverside runway was seriously damaged due to the long-term sun and rain. We refurbished the 2km runway, added ground markings, and improved the runway system to make the villagers more comfortable running.

  • Warm up the fitness venue

During the investigation, we found that the running villagers have the habit of warming up and stretching before and after exercise. However, due to the limitations of the venue, they can only stretch on the roadside and under the trees. We added warm-up venues and fitness venues at the start and middle points of the runway.

  • Those things that residents have headaches

During the visit and investigation, the residents told us about some things that affect our daily life, including the lack of stools in the public area, the old tea language park, the poor privacy of the public toilets in the mine park, and the sign of the cultural village entrance is blocked. In response to these problems, we have made improvements and updates one by one.

Project Details
Firm
ANTAO

Project Name
Liangzhu 20th Anniversary Renewal Plan

Architect/Designer
ANTAO

World Design Awards Category
Public Landscape Design Built

Project Location
Hangzhou

Team
Wei Zhu

Country
China

Photography ©Credit
©ANTAO

As one of the largest creative platforms in China, ANTAO is committed to providing comprehensive solutions to contemporary human settlement problems with an international perspective and multidisciplinary integration. Nearly 600 architects, landscape architects, interior designers, planners, engineers, installation artists, product designers, environmental ecologists, educators, and environmental psychologists use innovative research and holistic design approaches to promote social innovation and create positive impact.