Jiangyin Greenway, China
More than a path: This 4km segment of a 20km city bicycle loop was the subject of an invited design competition in 2018. Our proposal developed the project well beyond the brief to include an infrastructure of leisure: amphitheatres, tea houses, playgrounds and more.
River story: The greenway path is a scaled model, in length, of the Yangtze River with important historic cities and major river tributaries becoming cantilevered plazas, balconies and projections.
Responsive AND surprising: The path responds to context with arbors and seating plazas overlooking lakes and canals; stairs located at street intersections; landmark bridges over roads.
Place making AND programming: It is said that place is space with memories attached. And that memories can’t be attached without articulation. Consequently, the journey along this greenway is articulated with a number of events: an amphitheatre; a raised plaza with permanent sound instruments; several exercise playgrounds with slides, climbing ramps and swings hanging under the greenway, to name a few.
Full of potential: This design attaches three buildings adjacent to both the existing roads and pedestrian system. Elevators, public WCs, tea house cafes, bike shops and community facilities are located here.
Dancing lightly: The entire greenway is built in prefabricated steel to reduce construction impact on the existing park. It is fabricated by a local ship building company. A cross-legged column structure, sometimes leaning left, sometimes right, creates a dynamic choreography.
Membranes, trusses and cradles: Seven bridges explore three structural principles: perforated membranes, trusses, and suspension systems.
All the information about how to enter the 2020 WAN Awards is here.
We are very happy to offer support so please don’t hesitate to email Georgia, WAN Awards Event Coordinator with any questions at Georgia.Baily@haymarket.com.
Last year more than 40 countries took part in the WAN Awards with strong showings from Europe, the Americas and Asia-Pacific. And we saw some truly outstanding projects, take a look at the winners from last year here.