Lotus Pond
Wuxi | jiangsu | China
 
Lotus Pond is 100 Architect’s creative design response to the invitation from the Local Government of Luoshe Town to participate in their open bidding for the renovation of Luoshe Town’s Main Square, a 10,000 m2 plaza in the neuralgic center of Luoshe Town, a famous and historical cultural town in the south of Yangtze River, with more than 1,600 years of history, located in the North-West of Wuxi, Jiangsu Province, China.
 

Lotus Pond (under construction) | Official Video | 100 Channel
 

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The Main Square of Luoshe is the main catalyzer of social life in the Town, a space widely used by its citizens as gathering point, where authorities host official events, concerts, dances and other performances, where ladys get together for group-dancing at night, where elders get together to play mahjong or practice Chinese calligraphy with water on the pavement.
 
 

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The Urban Planning Bureau was aiming at renovating and modernizing the most significant public space in the Town, to keep being the most relevant public space in the Town, but also to become an urban landmark beyond Luoshe’s limits, that could symbolize the great growth and development experienced by Luoshe, widely known as “China’s Township Star” for its achievements.
 
 

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Besides renovating the image of the Square, the scope of work included the addition of new public amenities that could enhance the experience of citizens in the public realm, equipping the Square with eye-catching and functional features, such as a performance area, leisure areas, play & entertainment area for children, as well as F&B & retail units. All in all, a public space activation project that aims for a trendy outdoor lifestyle hub and gathering point for the local community as well as for visitors to Luoshe.
 
 

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The proposal, inspired by traditional Chinese paintings of lotus ponds, where artists usually render images of floating Water Lilies and Oriental Koi fishes, intends the architecturalization of that traditional image turned into a dynamic square. To achieve that, we draw inspiration from geometrical patterns and lines in the pavement design that could resemble water ripples enclosing functional areas while also encouraging certain pedestrian circulations and flows of people around them. In between the water ripples that act as functional cores, rolling stones are used in the pavement design to enhance the overall Pond look & feel.
 
 

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Two large green areas, in the shape of water lilies, are placed facing the two main roads that surround the square, as green buffers to isolate the Square’s inner space from the buzzy roads. This action allows us to have a peaceful oasis of calm within the busy town center.
 
The central space of the Square counts with a 2.400 m2 obstacles-free main activity core for large public events with a capacity of up to 800 people, also equipped with a large public amphitheater capable of accommodating a large number of spectators in those large events planned by the Town Hall, but also able to act as a main meeting and gathering point during normal days. This public amphitheater is strategically located to cover at the same time the existing access to the car park located beneath the Square.
 
 

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Around that central core of public activity, we laid out a resting ring composed by a series of 12 colorful and sculptural canopies in the shape of lotus flowers in different blooming stages, which, in addition to being decorative elements, provide shelter to the resting mini-plazas hosted beneath them.
 
 
The new proposal will also count with a dedicated Children Play Area, strategically located in the safest corner of the Square, away from the main roads with heavy traffic and protected by the existing construction that gives vehicles access to the underground parking lot. In order to protect kids from sun and rain, the entire playground is covered with green canopies in the shape of water lilies, conceding an interesting forest-like appearance to kids playing inside. Those green canopies are then multiplied along the retail street adjacent to the residential tower, setting the border between square and retail street.
 
 

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The most spectacular and significant addition to this new version of the Plaza, is a new Sky Park, a system of elevated platforms is the shape of rolling stones, thought to comply with 3 functions. Firstly, covering both entry & exit car ramps leading to the underground parking lot, allowing us to get rid of the existing constructions built for that purpose, and consequently opening up the square towards that service road with important F&B character. Secondly, hosting underneath 3 covered pavilions for relocating the public WC, an indoor Aced resting area for elders, and a rentable commercial space to equip the square with a small convenience store. And last but most innovative, an elevated walkable park equipped with resting and gathering areas besides lush greenery as a new platform for pleasant social interactions, offering new and interesting visuals over the main central performance space and the city itself.
 
Altogether, the proposal creates a very eye-catching, stimulating and renovated Urban Heart for Luoshe Town, a powerful catalyzer of social life for all citizens and social groups, which will also boost the commercial activity in the area.
 
 

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Credits
 
PROJECT NAME: Lotus Pond
DESIGN: 100 Architects (Shanghai) Co., Ltd.
DESIGN TEAM: Marcial Jesús, Javier González, Mónica Páez, Lara Broglio, Ponyo Zhao, Keith Gong, Cosima Jiang, Michelle Aldora & Yuntong Liu.
PROJECT MANAGEMENT TEAM: Jenny Fan, Nicholas Lv & Eva Jiang.
CLIENT: Luoshe Town Local Government
SIZE: 15,000 m2
STATUS: Under Construction
LOCATION: Luoshe Town, Wuxi (China)
RENDERS: 100 Architects (Shanghai) Co., Ltd.