Location: Shanghai, China.

Architect: Original Design Studio.

The Demonstration Section of Yangpu Riverside Public Space is a crucial part of the area’s public space development project. It serves as a benchmark not only for the area but also for the entire 45km long riverside restoration project. The architect, who has lived in the area for many years, was unable to walk up to the Huangpu River due to the dense factories along the shore. The project aims to transform the city’s urban space and showcase its rich culture of industrial development. The project focuses on the excavation and revitalization of existing industrial remains, keeping the structures, scratches, and textures as a reflection of the site’s history. The ecological concept of landscape design is applied, with a limited intervention and low impact design strategy. The restoration system of the ecological environment is based on the spatial condition of the factories and the local ecosystem. The tectonics of passageways feature a light steel structure that minimizes impact to the environment during construction. The Yangshupu water plant poses a challenge but also a chance in the connection of Huangpu River waterfronts. Linkage was achieved by utilizing infrastructures and their structural parts as the foundation of new constructions. The project also includes the facilitating parts into landscape design, offering a new and inspiring perspective for visitors and new content to landscape design and public activity. The project aims to create a continuity of the city’s culture and the density of time, with a focus on the reuse and integration of infrastructure in landscape design.

Photo credit: Su Shengliang, Zhan Changheng, Zhang Yong