Resilient riverfront park melds inherent site beauty with new low-impact 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

LocationChongqing, China
ClientChongqing North District (Agriculture, Forest and Hydrology Management Department)
SERVICE:
Size39.54 acres (site); 39.54 acres (landscape)

Located along Chongqing’s Jialing River, this new linear public park offered unique challenges: a 30-meter annual river fluctuation, steep topography, and low-impact maintenance of a continuous riparian corridor. Adjacent new urban development, with attendant needs for green space, called for a flexible and resilient approach to the park’s landscape and infrastructure.

The design for Golden Shoal (also known as Jin Hai Wan) Riverfront Park took the overlapping layers of terrestrial, aquatic, and cultural and natural heritage into account. SWA wanted to provide an accessible, playful riverfront within a long and narrow stretch of land: one that would be both ecologically and socially resilient. Water quality is maintained through controlled release at all park levels, preserving existing topography and plantings against erosion. The resulting park design blends the site’s riparian and industrial heritage with a new layer of elements, while building in new access to the river and its adjacent lands for an emerging district’s residents and visitors.

Related Projects

Longgang River Blueway System

The Shenzhen Longgang River Blueway System is envisioned to unlock the tremendous land value of this 13-mile-long suburban watershed and galvanize the city’s future growth. SWA’s proposal addresses urbanization issues pertaining to water, the environment, and open space shortage, while also activating industrial and cultural revitalization in the surrounding d...

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...

Pellier Park

In the heart of downtown San Jose, the first of three new SWA-designed parks celebrates the plum tree and agricultural origins of Silicon Valley.  The site is a registered California Historic Landmark and the original nursery of Louis Pellier, known as “ The Prune King’ who introduced the French Prune to the Valley in 1856 and sparked the orchard boom in Calif...

San Jacinto Plaza

SWA’s redesign of San Jacinto Plaza, a historic gathering place in El Paso’s downtown business district provides a state-of-the-art urban open space, while protecting and celebrating the history and culture of the site. The project was the result of an intensive community process involving input from a wide range of constituents. Active programming, environmen...

Griggs Park Redevelopment

Griggs Park, a historically important open space located in Uptown Dallas, had not kept pace with the ever-evolving culture and artistic neighborhood surrounding it. The new design reflects the changes in urban uses for the now-vibrant neighborhood. Established in the 1940s, the park is the first dedicated to an African American in Dallas. It transitioned with...

Buffalo Bayou Park

This thoroughly renovated, 160-acre public space deploys a vigorous agenda of urban ecological services and improved pedestrian accessibility, with two new bridges connecting surrounding neighborhoods. The design utilizes channel stabilization techniques, enhancing the bayou’s natural meanders and offering increased resiliency against floodwaters while preserv...

Riverside Park South

Located on the West Side of Manhattan on the scenic Hudson River shoreline, Riverside Park South is a massive, multiphase project of sweeping ambition and historic scope. Combining new green space, new infrastructure, and the renovation of landmark industrial buildings, the plan – originally devised by Thomas Balsley Associates in 1991 – is an extension of Fre...

Bayfront Parks Master Plan

Bounded by the scenic Hudson to the east, Jersey City is lined with high-rise towers and waterfront parks offering views of Manhattan. To the west, the often-overlooked Hackensack features wetlands, industry, and degraded post-industrial sites. The Bayfront Redevelopment Master Plan aims to transform a formerly contaminated 100-acre site on the Hackensack Rive...