MARTHA SCHWARTZ PARTNERS
FENGMING MOUNTAIN PARK CHONGQING, CHINA
Design Firm | Martha Schwartz Partners
Design Team | Martha Schwartz, Nigel Koch,
Jasmine Ong, Christabel Lee, Aigars Lauzis,
Ignacio Lopez-Buson, Ceylan Belek-Ombregt,
Gilles de Wever and Markus Jatsch
Architects | Lacime
Contractor | Third Chongqing Construction
Engineering Co.Ltd.
Client | Vanke
Images| Martha Schwartz Partners
Fengming Mountain Park is set on a 16,000 sqm site, located in the growing Shapingba District of Chongqing, China. The site extends south to the old housing quarter, north to the Huayu City Project, west to Shangqiao Road and east to Fengxi Road, which is the main entrance and highest point of the site. Opened in Spring 2013, visitors are taken on a dynamic journey via a series of iconic mountain-shaped follies, plazas, greenery and water features to the proposed Vanke Golden City Development sales centre.
The design objective was to create a demonstration park and to express a unique identity to draw attention to the development sales centre from the upper main road and entrance from Fengxi Road; and be adaptable for integration into the future urban public realm.
Extreme topography creates both a functional challenge to facilitate pedestrian and vehicle
movement from the upper car park to the sales centre at the lowest point; and a unique
opportunity to provide a dynamic landscape – the ‘mountain‘.
The vision was to create a strong connection between the setting of the site and the surrounding backdrop of the mountainous peaks, valleys of the Sichuan Basin; the agrarian
patterning of rice paddy terraces; the Chang Jiang river; and the mysterious white/grey misty
sky of Chongqing. These elements provide the inspiration for the ‘mountain‘ pavilions, zigzag
patterns, orchestrated terrain and the use of vivid
colours (to contrast against the sky).
On arrival from Fengxi Road, dancing red and orange sculptures line the entrance to draw people into the arrival plaza carpark. The first of the mountain pavilions stands at the entrance, to mark the start of a series of visual mountain peaks, descending down the slope. Each pavilion is strategically positioned along the zigzag
path, leading pedestrians down the ‘mountain’, towards the sales centre area.
The pavilions provide shade during the day and at night, are lit to create a spectacular glowing lattern effect. The zigzag path esures the extreme level change
is accessible for all, the path also becomes a geological pattern language, as if one is a
walking on trails winding up a steep mountain. At each turn, a platform provides a place to sit
and enjoy the view or take respite from the hill. The zigzag path is lined with balustrade walls
constructed from large pieces of deeply textured dark concrete to create a rocky silhouette looking up the hill.
The valleys or crevices that are created by the walls become sources for streams which run through the project.
The presence of water is an important part of Fengming Mountain Park and is expressed as a ‘flow’ of water from the arrival plaza to the sales centre, using a variety of different water effects,
such as: channels, pools and jets to assist with cooling, provide sounds and atmosphere to what is a captivating landscape.
This entire park is a sequence, a triumphant journey, from the patterned markings in the arrival plaza; down the zig zag path; into meandering water features; through the plazas and then on to the final destination at the sales centre. Fengming
Mountain Park has become a vibrant, joyful and well loved part of the Chongqing cityscape.
