Text description provided by the architects
The Jinlin Yunjing demonstration area in Chengdu sits beside Dong'an Lake, like an island in the water, facing lake and island forest. The design takes nature as its base and introduces the island concept: ascend the green island, thread the secluded forest, then dwell in nature, savoring the ease of an isle in Dong'an Lake. Ascending the island follows gentle cascading water and sparkling entrance lights, blending rationality and romance in a calm, simple key. Light and shadow interweave as visitors ascend steps, creating a quiet return to nature within the bustling city. Continuing Carlo Scarpa's layering of reality, life and art, the water surface reflects light and shadow, carrying a boatload of illumination to the shore. The pavilion-viewing-stream section offers flowing water like a mountain spring, dappled tree shadows and dancers among greenery. In starlight one may sit and converse with nature, watching clouds rise and listening to insects and birds. The fog-threading forest section drifts through an Araucaria grove, each step a new scene, as if floating on clouds; tree shadows overlap on stones in gentle breeze. The design team spent over twenty days on site coordinating disciplines, and under a tight forty-day schedule left their offices to survey, correct and measure every detail. Sixty Araucaria trees were selected online due to pandemic restrictions, with flower-border mock-ups supervised on site. The 10,650-square-meter project, designed in 2021 and completed in 2022, advocates plant-nature co-growth and a lifecycle landscape, giving more space to plants, designing lightly and letting life grow naturally.
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