Suzhou China Resources · Xingwan One

China Resources Star Harbor No. 1 occupies the west bank of Dushu Lake in Suzhou, where the city's historic dependence on water is still legible in a landscape of interlaced creeks, broad lake light, and dense urban convenience. The site is fringed by mature trees and egret habitat, offering an ecological setting of unusual richness. Drawing on the ecological lineage of the classical Suzhou garden, the design aims to absorb the humanist, artistic and natural spirit of the Jiangnan water town into a contemporary residential community, achieving the ideal of a place that, though made by hand, appears to be born from nature. A restrained, luxe entry portico frames the first glimpse of home, its axis-symmetric tree rows and water reflections welcoming residents back from the city. Beyond the gate, a formal allée of trees screens out the external noise and provides shaded seating for neighbors to linger. At the heart of the community, a waterside living room opens beneath the trees, with deciduous plantings and stone edges that turn green in spring and drop golden leaves onto the water in autumn. The surrounding landscape garden spreads outward from this central water feature like a flowing oasis, using local species and layered planting of maples, crape myrtles and osmanthus to mark the passage of seasons. A winding pedestrian system threads through the planting beds and water features, inviting unhurried discovery. For children, a nature-play zone is shaped as a three-dimensional terrain of rocking horses, swings, crawl tunnels and climbing slopes, supporting development from crawling and walking through running, jumping and climbing. The project treats ecology as the everyday fabric of community life: attentive property services and a shared community culture turn the landscape into something residents can feel, touch and interact with, so that nature is not a backdrop but the medium through which daily life unfolds.