The Feng-Shui ball - the crowing glory!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yi5OtDd8tzc

BAM is pleased to announce the completion of the Shoukai Vanke Daxing Yihezhuang Project. Located at the midpoint to the much anticipated Beijing South airport, the site plugs into a new subway line connecting to the future airport. With over twice the runway capacity of Beijing's current airport, this new south corridor promises to be come key link for Beijing's citizens and visitors.

Landscape Planning

The Yihezhuang site is strategically planned by the Daxing government as a new city center. Therefore the site has provisions for a generous public open space creating a central urban park. The Vanke Shoukai Yigezhuang project flanks the central portion of this future city center public space.

With the architectural design and initial concept planning provided by Spark Architects, the project promises to offer modern glass office blocks as soaring cantilevers over retail and acting as welcoming gateways into the park space. The landscape design of the park itself is now in its early concept phases. The northeast most corner of the project has been accelerated to create an 'experience center' now under construction. Once complete the experience center and surrounding landscape will provide a promising glimpse of the future central public space of Daxing.

The basic idea of the landscape design is a reaction against the flatness of the surrounding site area. In order to create a future entry gateway to the park space BAM developed a series of large landforms which create an undulating topographic gateway. The landforms and surrounding landscape design utilize a circular geometry to create a space that flows easily into the park. At the same time the circular spaces create powerful centers and gathering spaces.

Rather than creating a parking lot as the brief requested, BAM carefully sited a circular entry plaza nestled into the corner. the space of the plaza is defined by a border hedge of Juniper Formosa lined by 27 large granite boulders. The geometry of the plaza is such that cars can freely enter and park, however a visitor would not necessarily understand this as parking, it's perceived more as a pedestrian entry plaza for the park.

A line of bollards cuts a chord across the geometry of the circle place leading visitors to the architectural entry plaza. A 1.5m granite stone sphere floats on water creating a monumental centerpiece of this plaza. This giant 'fengshui' ball is one of the largest in the world. Orange steel planters are scattered about the plaza creating a splash of seasonal color.

Curving brick paths invite visitors into the hilly landscape beyond. Beautiful advance stock trees chosen from the Vanke nursery populate the hills and fill in the landscape. The species include more than 15 varieties of oaks, maples, pines, and fast growing willows. The trees offer visitors an inspiring glimpse of what this park space will become in the future.

Design Team

The BAM design team worked closely with Spark Architect's Conceptual design to create a landscape which complements the soaring cantilever of the architecture. The simple yet bold geometry of the architecture inspired a landscape design of similar ethos- strong geometry with simple and bold moves. The collaboration between Spark and BAM's design teams is now expanding into other Vanke projects such as the Jiugong Vanke Plaza Project.