A cultural regeneration of a closed limestone quarry into a rural post-industrial landscape
{"autoplay":"true","autoplay_speed":"8000","speed":"1000","arrows":"true","dots":"false","loop":"true","nav_slide_column":5,"rtl":"false"}
{"autoplay":"true","autoplay_speed":"8000","speed":"1000","arrows":"true","dots":"false","loop":"true","nav_slide_column":5,"rtl":"false"}

DETAILS

LocationHuairou, Beijing, China
ClientBeijing Xingfa Cement Co., Ltd
SERVICE:
Size107.5 hectares

Just north of Beijing, between the Great Wall and Yanqi Lake, the Xingfa Cement Plant once fueled China’s construction boom, operating for over two decades before its 2015 closure under the National Air Quality Action Plan. Today, an adjacent quarry that once provided raw materials has been remediated as a 107.5-hectare terraced park that anchors an accompanying 17-acre research campus on the site of the plant.

Where a single willow tree once stood, the valley now supports a vast, layered network of emergent plant communities selected to adapt in rocky, alkaline soils. Native arborvitae stabilize slopes and retain moisture through summer droughts. Legume-producing species enrich the thin soil, while seasonal stands of smoke tree, mulberry, and elm provide canopy and seasonal color. Invasive plants introduced during the site’s industrial era have been cleared and replaced with species that restore soil conditions. On the southwestern end of the site, a seasonal pond has been added to retain stormwater runoff and reduce erosion across the exposed quarry floor.

Paving, walls, and trail edging were constructed using recycled stone and shale. Salvaged conveyor housings and other industrial remnants were embedded into the landscape along the “Trail of Memory,” a pedestrian spine linking the two quarry pits that pays homage to the site’s industrial past. Climbing up a nearby hilltop to an overlook pavilion, a 1.2-kilometer hiking trail provides panoramic views of the surrounding Yan Mountains.

Related Projects

Moji Mountain Park Master Plan

Moji Mountain, one of the most distinctive symbols of Yichang, now boasts the city’s largest public open space. The 120-hectare park is located along the banks of the Yangtze River, and has a rich historical connection to both the river and the city. De-forested in the past for agricultural uses, the mountain’s slopes have been replanted and now support a new ...

Resonant Memory: One October Memorial

Inspired by the shared love of country music that brought people from all over the world together for the Route 91 Music Festival, Resonant Memory is based on the shape of an acoustic guitar. The design makes particular use of the instrument’s sound hole as a recurring motif to represent absence, honoring the lives lost on October 1, 2017, in Las Vegas, Nevada...

Wuhan Huafa Capital Park

Wuhan Huafa Capital Development is located in the city’s urban core, amidst the hustle and bustle of busy streets and neighborhoods. The nearly 57,000-square-foot green space, adjacent to the Wuhan Capital Residential Development Sales Center, is envisioned to provide an immersive landscape experience for the sales center’s model housing area during the advert...

The Clearing: Sandy Hook Permanent Memorial

This project was designed to honor the 20 children and six educators who were slain on Dec 14, 2012 at Sandy Hook Elementary School. Designers Dan Affleck and Ben Waldo created a competition-winning design for a memorial space which is both open-ended and unifying in how it is experienced, honoring the full spectrum of emotions this tragedy evokes. They wanted...

Alief Park and Neighborhood Center

In the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey, Houston was compelled to reassess community preparedness. The 37-acre Alief Center, situated in one of the city’s most culturally diverse areas, addresses longstanding issues of disinvestment and environmental injustice while fostering physical and social resilience.

Elevated above the 100-year floodplain, the...

Ontario Grand Park

Dating back to the late 1800s, Ontario, California, has been an ideal destination for agriculture, boasting orange, peach, lemon, and walnut groves. With an economy now based in manufacturing, access to an international airport, and proximity to Los Angeles, Ontario’s population is predicted to double by 2035. In response to the growing community, Ontario Gran...

Naftzger Park

Naftzger Park offers a contemporary and communal gathering space in downtown Wichita with enough variety to appeal to everyone.  Designed to activate an area of town between Old Town and a burgeoning new entertainment district, the park is at once an urban foyer and outdoor recreation room.  A contemporary pavilion can accommodate picnic tables by day and perf...

Baton Rouge Lakes

The 275-acre Baton Rouges Lakes system is a series of six lakes in central Baton Rouge adjacent to Louisiana State University, three major parks, and a diverse mix of neighborhoods. Recognizing opportunity in crisis, a newly funded master plan provides sound ecological restoration methods that will heal a dying lake system while reconnecting the region to its ...