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An infrastructure-based approach to design scenarios in Qianhai Bay, China 19.00
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The Artificial Nature GSPublisherVersion 0.1.100.100
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POLITECNICO DI TORINO Department of Architecture and Design THE CHINESE UNIVERSITY OF HONG KONG School of Architecture MASTER DEGREE In Architecture, Construction and City THESIS PROGRAM Joint Studio CUHK/POLITO AUTHOR Nada Pejovic S224886 PROFESSORS Francesca Frassoldati Gustavo Ambrosini Mauro Berta YEAR 2017 An infrastructure-based approach to design scenarios in Qianhai Bay (China) The artificial nature of the city
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acknowledgements
I would like to thank my thesis supervisors prof. Mauro Berta, prof. Gustavo Ambrosini and mostly to prof. Francesca Frassoldati for all of their guidance throughout this Joint Studio program. Your discussion, ideas, and feedback have been absolutely invaluable for me. As well to my colleagues from Politecnico di Torino and Chinese University of Hong Kong. I have learned a lot working with you. The process of this work would have been more difficult without the support of the strong friendship provided by my people in Turin. We spent valuable moments together that helped me to get over the hardest moments. Thank you, I will always have you present. I would like to thank my lovely friends from Montenegro, who have supported me throughout entire process. I am indebted to you for helping me. Your presence was worth more than I can express on paper. I would especially like to thank my amazing family for the love and constant encouragement I have gotten over the years. I am honored and proud to share with you today this unique experience. Without you, it would be impossible for me to finish my final goal. Thank you for everything, this work is for you.
abstract
The rain water is one of the world’s most wasted natural resources that falls upon cities gets expelled like a waste product. In most cases, stormwater is something to dispose of as quickly as possible, while, on the other hand, water stress is a recurrent urban condition that constraints and restraints the livability of urban landscapes. Urban landscape may work as an active infrastructure or a multifunctional machine that reconnects security, risk and extreme conditions with daily urban life. Therefore, the research work focuses on an alive urban landscape with multiple spatial configurations. In recent years floods have affected more than 100 Chinese cities per year (Control and Countermeasure of Flood in China, 2017).
How to approach flooding through adapting to existing situation and preparing for extreme conditions? Hence, the work poses the following research question: In architecture, the answer should be to find ways to adapt to reality, to approach the city’s wastewater problem with its own resources. Moreover, the idea is to reconceptualize rainwater not as a danger but as a source which should be exploited. Therefore, the main goal of this research is to prevent huge masses of water from discharging immediately into the canals and the bay on the case of Qianhai in China. Finally, this work explores how the landscape can serve to prevent or mitigate the effects of extreme weather conditions. A possible way to approach all of these issues is the
sponge city, which is currently adopted by Chinese authorities as ‘the solution’ to all problems. Sponge city is called a ‘water sensitive city’ in Aus tralia, ‘low impact development’ in the USA, and ‘sustainable drainage system’ in the UK (Fletcher et al. 2015). It represents a city which is capable of adapting to environmental changes, by acting as a sponge and absorbing the rainfall which is coming to it. Hence, sponge city can absorb, store, drain, and purify the water. In recent years many authors have elaborated on the issue, such as the process of turning “gray infrastructure” into “green infrastructure” (Jiang et al. 2017). Nowadays, communities can choose to sustain clean waters, act as a support for sustainable communities and provide various benefits for the environment. This approach is called green infrastructure (Environmental Protection Agency, 2017). Green infrastructure uses natural resources (as vegetation and soil) to control stormwater, while, on the other hand, gray infrastructure uses pipes and other manmade elements used for water control. Therefore, using natural resources, green infrastructure manages to control the stormwater, flood, quality of air, and other environmental processes. Besides, the whole system can be expanded by improving existing and adding new buildings into the process of making Superblocks. They represent cohesive neighborhood that serve as a replacement of traditional Chinese enclosed urban blocks. Since superblocks provide safe life and collectiv-
ism, they support the better way to build cities in this century (Calthorpe, 2011). According to the immense urban growth in China since 1980s, the development of superblocks has successfully established. Supporting the superblocks’ idea, China, as a new fast growing sustainable country, sets standards for efficient urban design which protects the environment and world’s climate (Busch, 2017). Hence, the project of Sponge city + Sponge Superblocks works as a productive, reusable and eco circle. This idea implies comprehensive water system that has to hold all urban environments in one unbreakable and functional circle. It transforms whole neighborhood to a machine covered with ecology wetland, garden parkland, and entertainment parkland. Sponge city + Sponge Superblocks project is not just movable; it is in the same time “green” big machine. This hydrological system sensitive area will always change depending on weather conditions. Green machine is adaptive. Therefore, the vision of this work is based on interconnection between technical, residential and landscape spheres. Sponge Superblocks include courtyards which represent intimate spaces and are a part of Green Machine. Therefore, courtyards are covered with permeable pavement or vegetation that temporarily stores and infiltrates the runoff into the ground. Buildings in Sponge Superblocks have green roofs that are used as gardens, which comprise these buildings in the system of Green Machine. In addition, it provides sufficient amount of water for domestic use and has
lots of organic elements to reduce the pollution. According to the sources of water in Qianhai, Shenzhen, which come from the canals to the green finger, the propose of my project includes improvement and advancement of existing green spaces around the Danam hill, in order to support the function of Canal 1 that collects water from this hill. The whole enlargement process of Sponge area, from the finger to the surrounding green space, has aim to reduce the amount of water in the finger by helping canal 1 to take water from Danam hill. This green sponge area is an ecology wetland with extensive content. Hence, the project unites green finger (Parkland), green area (Ecology Wetland) and buildings (Sponge Superblocks) with aim to make effective systems that provide suitable remediation to the increasing frequency of extreme weather conditions in the city. Moreover, it provides better and safer life with more activities and opportunities for the urban community. Whole Parkland finger and Wetland area are connected by pedestrian bridges with many pavilions with different functions. One can say that no city is frozen, it is transforming; it is all about constant transformation in this project. The transformation depends on the amount of water in the finger and in the wetland due to weather conditions. This vision of Sponge city+ Sponge Superblocks with green machine that works from underground and controls the whole neighborhood, is the proposal of a new way of living in a green, exchangeable, recyclable, and sustainable metabolism.
contents: introduction
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sponge city references
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1. background analysis 1.1. wetland 1.2. free water surface - FWS wetland 1.3. hydrophytic vegetation 1.4. hydrology 1.5. hydric soils
2. site intervention 2.1. landscape decoding 2.2. landscape entities as a system 2.3. landscape pattern
3. technical strategies 3.1. water treatment processes 3.2. ‘green’ infrastructure
4. design proposal 4.1. design pattern 4.2. from services to program activities
5. wetland design
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027 028 032 036 040 042
047 048 056 062
071 072 080 089 090 100
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conclusion
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bibliography
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introduction
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sponge city
Sponge city represents innovation system where soft, green infrastructure collects rainfall in order to store fresh water and control flooding. It is focused on quality and quantity of stormwater and wastewater. Its aim is to use the full potential of rain water in cities. Hence, the function of Sponge cities is to allow rainwater to be stored and purified using a permeation system. Given the growing lack of water for urban uses in many Chinese cities, it is widely agreed something needs to be done. Rainfall in most cities usually makes it way to the nearest rivers and lakes through the local drainage system. However, many of the drainage systems across the country are still highly under-developed. This often leads to significant flooding during heavy rainfalls. But under the new sponge city program, nearly 70-percent of excess rain water will be recycled and reused on greenery, street cleaning and fire-fighting (Chinadaily, 2017). Therefore, under the label ‘sponge cities’ a number of new projects are launched that use the full potential of rain water in cities in China. The first batch
of the 16 ‘sponge cities,’ including Wuhan, Chongqing, Xiamen, Zhenjiang and others, will set up systems to allow rainwater to be stored (Chinadaily, 2017). Instead of considering water as a potential disaster that has to get rid of as quickly as it is possible, the sponge city system is trying to ‘digest’ every drop of rainfall and reduce the runoff in the city .
According to the Opinions of the General Office of the State Council in China, Sponge city directs to the sustainable development process of city involving flood control and water storage. Moreover, a bio-retention system can also be built on the top of buildings in order to collect and purify rain water from green belts along the sidewalks. Accordingly, the rain water is collected from the roofs and drained into a filtration tank. The excess rain water is then transferred into wells for later use. According to this the system of Sponge City does not include only green areas, but also urban buildings. On that way Sponge City can work as productive and protective system.
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Qunli Stormwater Park Harbin, Heilongjiang, China (2001)
image of Qunli Stormwater Park taken from: https://www.archdaily.com 2017
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references Qunli Stormwater Park represents one of the best examples of green sponge. In 2009, the need for new wetland park emerged in the city of Harbin in China. The site is situated along Songhua River which, historically, was flooding the area. However, nowadays the site is completely surrounded by roads and dense development, with no access to water sources which represents threat for the wetland area. Turenscape designed the park, with the goal to design a wetland park of 34.2 hectares. Their main idea was to transform this dying wetland into an urban stormwater park (‘green sponge’). It would save the dying wetland and moreover, provide various services for the community. However, there were multiple questions and challenges addressed by architects, that represent a motivation for my wetland project: 1. How to preserve a dying wetland when all the necessary ecological and biological connections are cut off? 2. How to provide multiple functions which will help the city? 3. What are the economic impacts of this project?
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images of Qunli Stormwater Park taken from: https://www.archdaily.com 2017
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The solution was to transform the existing wetland into self-sustain stormwater park with multiple functions. This project inspired me with that idea of designig a stormwater park that can collect, filtrate and store stormwater. Stormwater park filtrates the water through three different levels of ponds within the ‘green sponge’. The first one is Sedimentation Basin, which collects the water from the rainwater drainage pipes from surrounding areas. The second level contains ponds which remove sediments and pollutants even more. Lastly, the Natural Wetland takes cleansed water into the basin. Accordingly, this system is used in a combination with buildings with green roofs in my Sponge City Superblocks project as well.
sponge system diagram - taken from: https://urbanecologycmu.wordpress.com 2017
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concept of design stages taken from: https://www.archdaily.com 2017
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Moreover, the park provides new recreational and aesthetic experience for the community, as well as life for multiple ecosystems. In order to achieve that, there were multiple design stages to be followed, which will be discussed further in the text. 1. Intact natural core - the central area of the park is left untouched for natural processes to occur. 2. Cut-and-fill strategy - this stage created multiple ponds and mounds around the former wetland by using the cut-and-fill technique. It acts as filtrating and cleansing buffer zone for the center of wetland, and also as a natural border between the nature and the city. Stormwater from the city is being collected into a pipe which surrounds the wetland. Afterwards, it is disposed evenly into the wetland, previously being filtrated through surrounding ponds. Trees also grow around the mounds which create a dense forest barrier and multiple wetland vegetation initiates and welcomes diverse wildlife. 3. The path and platforms - there are pathways through pond and mound ring which allow visitors to experience the forest. Moreover, seats are put into the ponds which allow people to have even closer connection with nature.
4. The layer above the nature - not only pathways through the forest, but visitors can experience the nature from the above through skywalk. It links multiple mounds which are enriched by platforms, pavilions and viewing towers, allowing visitors to have distant views and to observe the central part of the nature. Through these four design stages, this dying wetland has been completely transformed into a stormwater park. Stormwater which was linked with flooding now has a positive impact in the city and this park is treating 500,000m3 of water, which is a bit more than its catchment area. The water which cannot be treated is diverted back to the river. The park is now listed as a national urban wetland park. It had positive impacts on both the wildlife in the area and the economic development of Qunli. Many new species of bird are using the area, and real estate values around the park have doubled since its completion. Finally, this project demonstrates how through an ecosystem and services oriented methodology, one can arrive to urban park design. Taking it into consideration, my project of wetland is based on this approach and design solution.
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SEA Street - Seattle, U.S.A. (2001)
location map of the SEA Street taken from: http://www.solaripedia.com 2017
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Street Edge Alternatives (SEA Streets) is a drainage project at 2nd Avenue NW which was constructed by Seattle Public Utilities. It completely reconstructed the street and its drainage system, reducing the impervious area and adding stormwater ponds. The drainage is designed to closely resemble the natural landscape prior to intervention, and not the traditional piping system. To achieve that, 100 evergreen trees were added, 1100 shrubs and the impervious surface was reduced to 11% less than a traditional street. Accordingly, this system served as an inspiration for my design system approach. The project was developed by urban planners from SPU together with local community groups. Streets are maintained both by SPU and inhabitants who live adjacent to SEA Street. In this area, as well as in Qianhai, Shenzhen, street flooding represents a big issue. It slows traffic, creating congestion and increasing the number of accidents. The running water erodes road surfaces and in winter, the water freezes, which causes more traffic accidents and erodes the road even more. Furthermore, street flooding makes walking and cycling for pedestrians and bicyclists even more difficult.
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drainage system in SEA Street - taken from: The Stormwater Management Challenge - Hiroko Matsuno and Selina Chiu 2017
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Therefore, the Superblocks design in my project is influenced by this project’s approach. It is based on: natural drainage system, water quality, landscape, porous sidewalks, mobility, and community benefits. The function of Natural Drainage System (NDS) is to restore and utilize the environment as it was supposed to do. The NDS approach uses the nature as a stormwater collector. More plants and less impervious surfaces lead to natural way of reducing the stormwater, especially along the edges of city streets. These landscape features allow stormwater to be absorbed into the ground, rather than allowing it to flood the streets of the city and polluting local streams, lakes, and bays. SPU understood that infrastructure-based solutions alone do not restore the aquatic habitat. However, it needs more sophisticated design and integration with rigorous water quality regulations. It led SPU to the implementation of ‘greener’ stormwater management projects. The quality of stormwater and its impact on waterbodies which can be found nearby inspired SPU to push NDS to further implementation. NDSs not only improve the stormwater water quality by purifying it, but they also reduce the possibilities of flooding. Moreover, SPU argues that the performance of NDS will improve in the future as plants become more mature and the soil becomes more stabilized,
which will lead to better filtration and preservation. Also, the elements of landscape have an important role. They represent an aesthetic benefit and also contribute to the management of rainfall. Trees can help in evaporation and transpiration which was not as present as before the intervention. The emphasis of the project was put not only on functionality, but also on aesthetics. For instance, sidewalk design attracts pedestrians to it, it does not serve only as a pedestrian walkway. Besides, existing trees are preserved and vegetation is relocated to meet homeowner needs and project goals. Surrounding areas and swales are graded and planted with various wetland species, while boulders and various river rocks provide both aesthetic value and functionality. Furthermore, the design emphasizes native and salmon-friendly planting. The system is unique in its design, soil engineering, plant selection, grading and layout, all of them working together as in natural ecosystem. Sidewalks are more modern and less impervious when compared to traditional sidewalks. Porous sidewalks allow stormwater infiltration due to their increased pore space in the concrete mixture. Taking it into consideration, the project of Superblocks has acquired design of filter strips and permeable pavements.
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section of filter strip taken from: The Stormwater Management Challenge - Hiroko Matsuno and Selina Chiu 2017
plan view of the SEA Street project taken from: http://www.solaripedia.com 2017
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Moreover, the design of SEA Street controls the traffic. The narrower lanes and attractive landscape create visual interest which slows down the traffic and reduces accidents. Consequently, this area is widely used by pedestrians and bicyclists for strolling. Even though the layout of streets and their shape is not traditional, the design team ensured that trucks and emergency vehicles can still safely use the street. Although they are not intended for driving, white strips provide an additional 0.6m of width on either side of 4.3m wide road, which makes road enough for two trucks to pass each other. Furthermore, the grass-planted strips alongside the road are structural grass which can handle sporadic traffic too. Finally, the project also meets the parking needs for neighbors by providing angled parking clusters which are distributed along the road. The project has created the sense of community in this neighborhood, that represents an important point for my project. It also improved the drainage system, reducing occasional floods. The sidewalk creates the feeling of security in the neighborhood and promotes strolling and increased
walkability, which attracts nearby residents. Since the maintenance is done by both SPU and residents, the SEA Street project also encourages neighbors to know each other and improves the social life of residents. Finally, all residents who live near SEA Street project are aware that the place plays an important role in the larger context of the local waterbodies. Many community members are involved in multiple projects for improving the quality of water, whose environmental awareness is evoked by design. Studies by SEA suggest that the stormwater flow velocities were reduced by around 20% when compared to traditional piping system and the transmission of pollutants through stormwater runoff was reduced by 98%. Moreover, the SEA Street reduces the runoff which is discharged into Pipers Creek by a factor of 4.7 in wet months. The City of Seattle finds NDS approach around 25% less costly than a conventional roadside stormwater system. It is simply due to the reducing runoff which impacts the amount of additional pipes and holding tanks for the water.
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1.background analysis “Wetlands serve as sinks, sources and transformers of nutrients and other chemical contaminants, and have a significant impact on water quality and ecosystem productivity.� (K. Ramesh Reddy et al., 2010, p. 8)
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wetland system taken from Mitsch and Gosselink (1993): Wetlands, 2nd edition
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1.1. wetland
Wetlands represent the area of the land which is constantly wet throughout the year due to their location in surrounding landscape. They have variety of names: swamps, fens, marshes, all of which describe individual water condition and position in geographical surrounding. Wetlands can be seen as a connection between uplands or terrestrial systems and continuously or deeply flooded areas. They can be found in depressions or in steep areas with soils which have low permeability. On the other hand, they can also be found high in topography or between steam drainages in cases when the land is flat or poorly drained. However, in all cases, wetlands are characterized by constantly wet land. This land is hostile to plants which cannot grow in saturated soils and thanks to the changes which occur during flooding (chemical, physical, and biological changes) (Robert H. Kadlec et al., 2009). The function of wetlands as origins, sinks, and generation of nutrients and other chemical pollutants, influences the quality of downstream water and ecosystem productivity.
To design a project of wetland in Qianhai, Shenzhen, I found a way to apply technology to modify the ecosystem in order to make landscape as a right and accurate answer to the natural phenomena. Thus, the result of ecosystem transformation has a important purpose “nutrient cycling, water balance, organic matter production and accretion� (Lewis, 1995, p. 306) and it is hidden in natural view and representation. Pollutant concentration ranges from low levels (unbuilt areas and parks), through low density residential and commercial areas, to high levels (high density commercial and industrial areas). The use of constructed wetlands is now the routine which best controls the runoff. In the United States, the implementation of wetland storm water best management practice (BMP) has been very uneven, with multiple applications of both west and east coast at the beginning of application. However, later there were fewer applications of systems around the US (Robert H. Kadlec et al., 2009).
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1. FWS wetland largwe leaking, leading to groundwater mounding
2. HSSF wetland small leaking, with unsaturated conditions beneath the wetland
3. VF wetland it perched above an aquifer under positive pressure
taken from Wallace and Kadlec (2009): Treatment wetlands, 2nd edition; CRC Press is an imprint of Taylor & Francis Group
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Due to their characteristics, wetlands are one of the most diverse ecosystems on the planet. Many jungle-like plants can be found together with variety of animals (mammals, reptiles, fish, birds, amphibians) which cannot be found or are not common in other ecosystems (Robert H. Kadlec et al., 2009). Moreover, due to increased biological activity which occurs in wetlands and thanks to the energy they receive from the sun and wind, they are able to transform many harmful pollutants into harmless nutrients or byproducts. These transformations can happen with a relatively low cost of excavation works, piping, pumping, and few additional structures. Besides, they are one of the least expensive systems to operate and maintain. There are three types of wetlands that are widely used: 1. Free water surface (FWS) wetlands which are similar to natural marches due to their open water areas; 2. Horizontal subsurface flow (HSSF) wetlands which are characterized by gravel bed with wetland vegetation planted in it. The water, which is kept under the gravel bed, flows horizontally from the inlet to the outlet; 3. Vertical flow (VF) wetlands are similar to HSSF in terms of composition. They consist of sand or gravel bed which is planted with wetland vegetation. However, in this case, the water is transferred through the plant root zone and it moves vertically.
According to that book “Treatment wetland�, written by Robert H. Kadlec and Scott D. Wallace (2009), I understood that for my location and conditions of Qianhai, Shenzehn, FWS wetland is accentuated to be designed. It is highlighted as more convenient in compared with HSSF and VF wetland design. Due to the HSSF wetlands common use for secondary treatment of small single family houses or sometimes even small communities, they do not provide the same additional benefits that FWS does. HSSF wetlands treat effluent either through the soil dispersal or surface water discharges. The wastewater is planned to stay under the surface of the media and flows around the roots of the plants. In general, HSSF wetlands are used for flow rates which are less than FWS wetlands, probably because of their cost and layout. They consist of inlet piping, a synthetic liner or a clay, filter media, emergent vegetation, berms, and outlet piping with water level control.On the other hand, VF is one more type of wetlands which falls in the group of event-driven systems. It is storm water wetlands system which has inflows which are unpredictable. Storm waters are cyclic processes which depend on the rain. It starts by the flush of runoff after rain which gradually decreases as storages rinse from the landscape. In the end, dry conditions arrive which stay until the next storm event. Anyhow, it is important to mention that all of these three types wetlands have varieties of media, plants, flow patterns and layout.
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FWS - waste water treatment
cross section of FWS wetland in winter
taken from Wallace and Kadlec (2009): Treatment wetlands, 2nd edition; CRC Press is an imprint of Taylor & Francis Group
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1.2. free water surface FWS wetland FWS wetlands are characterized by the areas of open water, floating vegetation and emergent plants. It can be either the result of the design or the consequence of design configuration. The characteristics of soil, breams, dikes and liners can be used to control the flow and the amount of infiltration to the wetland. As the wastewater goes through the wetlands, it is treated by sedimentation, filtration, oxidation, reduction, absorption and precipitation (Robert H. Kadlec et al., 2009). Because FWS are similar to natural wetlands, they attract much different wildlife (NADB database, 1993; Robert H. Kadlec et al., 2009). The most common application of a wetland is the treatment of waste from secondary or tertiary processes (see image FWS - waste water treatment). FWS are suitable for all climates, including the cold zones. However, the ice formations can lower the efficiency of wetlands and some processes are lower in cold water temperatures (for instance, nitrogen conversion processes). When water freezes on the surface, the transfer of the oxygen from the atmosphere reduces, which decreases processes which are dependent from oxygen. It is generally recommended to store water during
winter times and treat it during warmer, summer months (Robert H. Kadlec et al., 2009), (see image - Cross section of FWS wetland in winter). FWS waters mostly do not treat urban, agricultural and industrial storm waters due to their pulse flows and changing water levels. However, they are often used to treat mine waters and groundwater. Furthermore, FWS can provide significant benefits, such as an animal habitat or for the human uses. Treatment marches are not inexpensive, but are usually competitive with alternative technologies in terms of capital cost. On the other hand, operating costs are often quite low when compared to alternatives. It is important to note the calculation of the Hydraulic Loading Rate (HLR) of the wetland. According to Robert H. Kadlec and Scott D. Wallace, HLR (or q) is defined as the ‘rainfall equivalent of whatever low is under consideration’ (Robert H. Kadlec et al., 2009, p. 21). For instance, the calculation of HLR for FWS wetland is: q= Q/A Where: q represents the HLR [m/d], A is the wetland area in m2, and Q is the water flow rate [m3/d].
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FWS - waste water treatment taken from Wallace and Kadlec (2009): Treatment wetlands, 2nd edition; CRC Press is an imprint of Taylor & Francis Group
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According to Abbasi (1987), the traditional expertise of Asian farmers in treatment of human and animal wastes through aquaculture provides a good base for engineered wetland treatment systems. The first constructed wetlands appeared in early 1990s (Juwarkar et al. 1992). During the IWA conference in China in 1994, many papers presented the work on horizontal and vertical flow wetlands.
wetland area in 1970s, 1990, 2000 and 2008 reduced from 20882.9 km2, 18386.16 km2, 19904.22 km2 and 17269.72 km2 respectively.
Moreover, difficulties in communication have greatly hindered the transfer of wetlands to western world. Hence, most constructed wetlands are in Asian countries, such as India, China, Korea, Taiwan, Japan, Malaysia, Nepal and Thailand which serve various types of wastewater.
“Wetlands are valuable resources that provide a number of important functions for the environment and man, including food, fiber (e.g., reeds), clean water, carbon and other nutrient stores/sinks, flood and storm control, ground water recharge and discharge, pollution control, organic matter (sediment) export, routes for animal and plant migration and landscape and waterscape connectivity”. (K. Ramesh Reddy et al., 2010, p. 5)
Nowadays, the analysis show that wetlands are constantly decreasing. In five Chinese provinces: Chongquing, Yunnan, Guangx, Sichuan and Guizhou, that are located in southwest China, the wetland treatments are decreasing. It caused big economic losses and changes in ecological and climate environment. According to Robert H. Kadlec and Scott D. Wallace, the total
There are three components that characterize FWS wetlands: “ hydrophytic vegetation (wetland plants adapted to saturated soil conditions), hydrology (presence of water at or near the surface for a period of time), and hydric soils (saturated soil conditions exhibiting temporary or permanent anaerobiosis)” (K. Ramesh Reddy et al., 2010, p. 2).
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processes affecting particulate matter removal and generation in FWS wetlands
taken from Wallace and Kadlec (2009): Treatment wetlands, 2nd edition; CRC Press is an imprint of Taylor & Francis Group
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3.3. hydrophytic vegetation
The treatment of wetlands is strongly influenced by many biogeochemical and biological processes. Vegetation is one of them. It has a significant function in wetland which has different roles in the treatment of the wetland. First one is related to vegetation types and density. It includes particular trapping, flow resistance, and transpiration. Another role is significant to ecological functions what involve wild habitat in the wetland and the human use.
In general, the aim of vegetation in the wetland is to improve the quality of the water and to decrease potential pollutants. According to Robert H. Kadlec and Scott D. Wallace, I understood that vegetation has much influence in chemical processing in the treatment of the wetland: 1. The plant growth cycle stores and releases nutrients. 2. There is the creation of residuals accrete in the
wetland. Accretion represents the final process for nitrogen, since these residuals contain chemicals. 3. Litter and stems which can be found under water provide living environment for the microbes. Some of them include nitrifies and denitrifies which play significant role in the chemical processing. 4. The presence of vegetation affects the amount of oxygen in the water. Vegetation can block the wind, shading algae, which lowers reaeration. Floating vegetation can block the supply of oxygen to the water. On the contrary, submerged vegetation can provide generation of the oxygen directly in the water. 5. The carbon content (which is the product of plant litter) can provide the energy which is needed for heterotrophic denitrifies. In FWS, there are five different types of plants which area categorized by their growth habit with respect to the wetland water surface: 1.Emergent soft tissue plants; 2. Emergent woody plants; 3. Floating plants; 4. Submersed aquatic plants and; 5. Floating mats.
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clean water and wastewater situation in FWS wetland
carbon processing and gas emission in FWS wetland
taken from Wallace and Kadlec (2009): Treatment wetlands, 2nd edition; CRC Press is an imprint of Taylor & Francis Group
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The wetland vegetation has big role in the system of purification of wastewater. It acts “like a trickling filter in breaking down dissolved organic material� (Nichols, 1983, p. 497). The biological diversity of wetland creates specific interactions which result in greater diversity, more efficient utilization of energy inflows, and finally, the treatment properties of the wetland ecosystems. Genetic diversity, together with functional adaptation, allows living organisms to use wastewaters ingredients for their living purposes. By using these wastewater ingredients, wetland organisms affect the quality of water. From researching about the FWS wetland treatment, I found the key to designing well done and efficient wetland that is in making the conditions which are convenient for varieties of plants. The wetland has to adapt to existing conditions of the environment. It means that the designer, once the design is done, has to leave the project to adapt and spread by itself. Therefore, FWS wetland has to develop with minimal external control, same as natural wetland. This also has an impact on decreased initial and maintenance cost of the wetland. Moreover, abundant vegetation in wetland is beneficial
because it expands the market of agricultural products, purifies rainwater, and increases the quality of air and water (Robert H. Kadlec et al., 2009). Throughout the research, I found convenient solution for my project floating fields, that work as an aquapotnic basin, that includes fishes in a system in order to provide nutrients to the water. Hence, the floating aquatic vegetation (FAV) treatment systems consist of one or more ponds where floating plants grow. Wetlands support a wide variety of fungi, algae, bacteria and macrophytes. Treatment wetlands are using periphyton, algae, submerged macrophytes, floating vegetation, and woody plants. However, the most common choice is still macrophytes. To survive in flooded environment, macrophytes transport oxygen between the leaves and the root (K. Ramesh Reddy et al., 2010). The living cycle of plants in wetland is very important part of biogeochemical cycle. While growing, nutrients are absorbed by plants and stored in the plant canopy. When the growing season finishes, the nutrients are returned to the system.
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gradients in temp. and evapotranspiration in a wetland taken from Wallace and Kadlec (2009): Treatment wetlands, 2nd edition; CRC Press is an imprint of Taylor & Francis Group
According to specific weather conditions and huge amount of precipitation in Qinahai, Shenzhen, “key wetland ecosystem functions (water quality improvement, carbon and nutrient sequestration), especially under changing climatic conditions while maintaining water quality� (K. Ramesh Reddy et al., 2010, p. 4), have to be considered in more preventive and organized way. Accordingly, an important effect on the wetland ecosystem treatment and configuration has an amount of precipitation that can influence the quality of water. But as I mentioned before, the wetland is transformable structure that can be adapted to the natural changes, because changes in precipitation, evaporation or transpiration can changed the size of wetland. It means that changes, even small, can reduce or spread the size of wetland (Burkett, 2000). Moreover, the changes in wetland affect the transportation of sediments, nutrients and oth-
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1.4. hydrology
er elements to downstream aquatic systems (K. Ramesh Reddy et al., 2010). It means that wetland function hold whole ecosystem and natural conditions in one circle. One change can cause another affecting wetland biotope that consists vegetation, algae and microbial communities.
The process that is correlated to the water treatment in wetland is evapotranspiration (ET) that represents one of the ways to lose water from wetland. It is the combination of evaporation (removing water from the water or soil to the atmosphere) and transpiration (through plants).
According to Nicholas’ statement that “no rooted plants such as algae, duckweed, and sphagnum obtain nutrients directly from the water, and the incorporation of their detritus into the soil is a net transfer of nutrients from the water to the soil” (Nichols, 1983, p. 498), I found that water has a big influent on vegetation, as well as vegetation has a big influence to the soil. In agreement with explanation, the eco system can be consider as a productive circle.
Hence, ET has an impact on overall duration of water in the wetland and the water budget. The evapotranspiration of my project can be considered as “Large FWS wetland ET is roughly equal to lake evaporation, which in turn is roughly equal to 80% of pan evaporation” (Robert H. Kadlec et al., 2009, p. 28). It is important to mention that ET is maximum during early afternoon, while in the night, ET is the lowest. For example, the average ET losses during summer months in southern United States is 0.50 cm/d. Therefore, considering these conditions, more than half of daily water inflow can be lost during the process of ET (Ann McCauley, 2005).
Therefore, we can agree that the wetlands are one of the most productive ecosystems on the earth.
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organic matter 5% soil air 20%
soil water 25%
mineral particle 50%
components and diagram of soil adopted from Raymond Weil and Brady, N. C. (2014): Elements of the Nature and Properties of Soils, 3rd Edition
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1.5. hydric soils
Vegetation and soil represent the environmental and air filter. They exchange matter with surrounding atmosphere. Soil is the mineral or organic matter on the surface of the earth. It has been subjected to different environmental and genetic factors, such as climate, microorganisms, and topography. According to Raymond Weil and Brady, N. C. (2014) I inferred that the role of the wetland is not only to protect the communities from disasters and to control water flow. It also helps plant growth which are used for food production and helps recycling waste. Moreover, it enhances recreational, social and cultural life of users. Finally, due to artificial morphology in Shenzhen and small natural environment, I found wetland as productive green space that provides habitat for large variety of organisms. Wetland soils are composed by: Minerals – they represent the derivation from rocks. It is solid inorganic material. Soil organic matter – it consists of living and nonliving micro and macro organisms. It has big influence in physical, chemical, and biological soil
properties. Even though it is small compared to the rest of soil components, it plays an important role in some soil processes. Air – it represents the exchange between CO2 and O2. It consists of more CO2 than atmospheric air. Soil solution – or soil water consists of dissolved substances (Raymond Weil et al., 2014). This combination has an effect in soil texture, composition and porosity. Besides, it influences the water and air movement in the soil (Ann McCauley, 2005). Following the definition of the soil as “abiotic components of wetlands, which are large in size, undergo slow turnover and provide longterm storage similar to a reservoir” (K. Ramesh Reddy et al.,2010, p. 9), I found it as a hidden pool that can absorb and keep water in his ‘champers’. The time that soil is able to keep the water, depends of its residence time, that K. Ramesh Reddy, R. D. DeLaune, & C. B. Craft explaned as “the amount of material in the reservoir divided by the rate at which the material is removed or added to the reservoir” (K. Ramesh Reddy et al.,2010, p. 9). The process that occurs when the water passes
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biosoilds clogging distance as a function of media size
water budget quantities
profile view
taken from Wallace and Kadlec (2009): Treatment wetlands, 2nd edition; CRC Press is an imprint of Taylor & Francis Group
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plan view
through the wetland structure until it reaches the regional piezo-metric surface, is infiltration. Therefore, I found a connection between water and soil as a bond that makes a mutual compact unit of wetland. Moreover, there are three types of soil which can be found in wetland treatment basin:
the wetland basin soil until the ground water. The big amount of data is needed with respect to regional water table, regional groundwater flows and soil hydraulic conductivities by layer. Due to high price, these calculations are usually done only when the amount of seepage is crucial for the design.
“The soils under a treatment wetland may range in water condition from fully saturated, forming a water mound on the shallow regional aquifer, to unsaturated low (trickling)” (Ann McCauley, 2005, p. 30).
Moreover, it is important to define the catchment area. In their book, the Treatment wetlands, Robert H. Kadlec and Scott D. Wallace argue that the total catchment area is defined mostly by the area which is enclosed by berms and roads. That area can be easily calculated by using site characteristics. “Rainfall on catchment area will reach the wetland basin by overland low, in an amount equal to the runoff factor times the rainfall amount and the catchment area” (Robert H. Kadlec et al., 2009, p. 26). Following that book, the explanation of the rainfall water and calculation of catchment area is defined by the following formula:
“Vertical flows of water in the upper soil horizon are driven by gravity and by plant uptake to support transpiration. In an aquatic system, without emergent transpiring plant parts, vertical down flow will be driven solely by gravity. Water infiltration flow is then computed from the water pressure (hydraulic head) gradient between the saturated soil surface and the receiving aquifer, multiplied by the hydraulic conductivity of the soil. If the hydraulic conductivity of the soil layers beneath the root zone is very low, then percolation to groundwater is effectively blocked” (Robert H. Kadlec et al., 2009, p. 112). In this work, there is unsaturated zone which is situated under the wetland basin. It can absorb and lead water to the groundwater mounding. For FWS type of wetland, it is necessary to do the complex calculations which can determine the flow through
Qc = ψPAc where: Qc represents the flow rate from contribut -ing catchment [m3/d], Ac the catchment surface area [m2] which does not include the net wetland area, ψ is the catchment runoff coefficient, dimensionless (1.0 represents an impervious surface) and, P is the perception [m].
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2. site intervention “The landscape designer: the eye of a connoisseur who discerns, as well as the hand of an improver who alters the best features of a site� (Meyer, 2005, p. 95)
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location of Shenzhen maps of China taken from (https://chuyenhangtrungquoc.vn/dich-vu/chuyen-hang-lieu-ninh.html) 2017
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2.1. landscape decoding
Our project is located in Shenzhen, the main city of province Guangdong in the south of China. The city was established in 1979 and in 38 years, it grew into a modern metropolis and development center with 11.38 million of people. Moreover, it is expected to grow to 14.80 million in 2020 and to 18 million in 2030 (Association, 2017). The city is dense, compact, sustainable, and center of important resource - water. But according to the rapid urbanization, Shenzhen suffers crisis of water (floods, stormwater pollution, and reduced environmental capacity). In order to face and solve this crisis, Shenzhen established the flood control program which name is “Shenzhen Water Strategy”. The program includes four strategies: protection of water resources, the recovery of water in the environment, the guarantee of water safety and the enhancement of visible water (Association, 2017). Shenzhen is actually a water city with water heritage, economy, environment, amenity, and iden-
tity. Part of this future development is our neighborhood, Qianhai, which water crisis is going to be solved by architecture landscape urbanism proposal. Actually, James Corner Field Operations’ master plan project for Qianhai Water City gives scheme that directs to resolving the water problem. They define master plan by water fingers, which function is to infiltrate water as well as to provide parkland and innovative watery landscape (Qianhai Water City, Shenzhen, China, 2017). According to this project, Qianhai is going to be sustainable, unique urban territory with high buildings, waterfronts, public spaces, and entertainment. My project is related to one of these four fingers in order to follow James Corner Field Operations’ urban signs, and to involve my specific proposal for conditions in which the finger is. Also, Qianhai represents a commercial development and is situated in Delta, industry cooperation zone, which aim is to make closer cooperation between China and Hong Kong.
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area of sponge neighborhood author’s image
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Conforming to location and weather conditions of the area, an intervention is focused on green spaces, in order to make a large area of sponge neighborhood as an answer on the issue of huge rainfall in Shenzhen, China. Hence, the solution for this big issue does not include only Green Finger, but also involves existing natural green areas around the Danam hill. Since Qianhai is almost all an artificial land, I found this hill as a natural answer for natural disasters that can occur in the present location. In order to be adaptable to the current conditions, the city has to become dominant with its green spaces that can absorb water as a sponge and protect inhabitants and inventors. Moreover, the adaptive capacity to environmental changes is a key for stability and sustainability of open green systems. “It is, therefore, a process of transformation with a given objective, involving nature, stakeholders and technologyâ€? (Ă–zyavuz, 2012, p. 152).
Therefore, the vision of the project is to make a productive sponge bond that connects artificial and natural spaces. Throughout the design, I am trying to find solution in which rare natural landscape can become a convenient tool in absorbing water, instead of making more artificial spaces to solve the problem. Accordingly, the improvement of existing landscape can be considered as natural system that supports the artificial system. The systems are interrelated and make a circular effective system as resistance for climate changes and catastrophe.
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water flow diagram author’s image
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The project of Qinhai Water System is supported by an underground scheme of canals that receive water from the hills and from the parts of neighborhood. This scheme contains the comprehensive netting of Main Deep Tunnel, Canal 1 and Canal 2. The Main Deep Tunnel overtakes water from four canals: GuanKou drainage, Zhen-BaoKeng drainage, QuiQu drainage, and Canal 3, which gather rainwater from the city. The function of the Canal 1 is to collect water from the Danam hill, while the function of the Canal 2 is to take water from the part of the neighborhood and from another hill. The collected water from the netting then flows throughout the Chanwan Water Finger - Green Finger to the Qianhai Bay. Hence, the quantity of water in the Green Finger depends on the amount of rainfall as well as the amount of water from all canals. According to this function of netting that is absolutely to provide secure life and polluted neighborhood, the project of Sponge City + Sponge Superblocks follows that aim and supports it.
Hence, the vision of the project is to help the function of Canal 1 in order to improve the existing green spaces around the hill and to make sponge neighborhood. Moreover, the project combines architectural norm and tackles the complexity of theologically responsive design. Sponge Superblocks function simultaneously as architecture, urbanism, landscape, ecologies, and economies.
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Sponge City + Sponge Superblocks area wetland area area of improvment of existing and design of new buildings author’s image
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The Sponge Neighborhood consists two parts - Wetland and Sponge Superblocks, that are both organized to be adaptive to the natural changes. Their function to turn “gray infrastructure” into “green infrastructure” ensures absorption and vegetation purification of water, as well as storing and drain water. Hence, in the project of Sponge City + Sponge Superblocks, the natural area around the hill is converted in wetland space due to the big issue of high-rise rainfall water. This wetland project represents a model with terraces and embankments where the inclined strata facilitate drainage and water runoff. The wetland urban area provides connection between natural and artificial, as well as, natural and urban space. The function is not just to prevent disasters, but also to “provide lots of ecological benefits which were established especially needs of urban people” (Özyavuz, 2012, p. 107). Moreover, the project integrates new technologies in order to make a system that can have an integral role in preventing the city of disasters. It includes
the improvement of existing blocks as well as design of new buildings. The aim of Sponge Superblocks is to adopt urban plan to the concept of eco cycle system. The idea is to put communities inside the connection between artificial and natural environment in order to be conscious of the existence of the natural landscape and protection of natural processes and spaces. The configuration of new buildings responds to the existing conditions and climate. Together with the propriety position and materials, it also optimizes the consumption of rainfall water. Interventions include designing green roofs and systems that are integrated with new technologies.
Therefore, the system represents the fusion of the artificial and natural soils in order to make benefits from their common operation in the space. Hence, the whole design of Sponge City + Sponge Superblocks is consolidated in the neighborhood for the sake of innovative, safe, ecological, secure, clean, healthy, vivid, entertaining, and sustainable city.
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strategies toward a clear safe neighborhood
water system purpose: protect neighborhood from disasters caused by floods
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design sponge city
preserve biodiversity
provide new water storages
involve community
ensure the ecological bond between artificial and natural areas
preserve and improve ecological integrity of natural area around the hill
increase “carrying capacity� of landscape with wetland and sponge finger
improvement of existing and design new spongesuperblocks with infiltration system
2.2. landscape entities as a system
“Nature is the set of all entities and forces that constitute the territory. It is the natural world without mankind or civilization” (Özyavuz, 2012, p. 152). Following Özyavuz’s view, I consider nature in two faces: first one as creator of specific weather in Qianhai, Shenzhen, and second as the only area that can solve problems caused by itself. The ecosystem and natural world are difficult to be controlled by human beings, because they have a higher position in universe and “nature comes before man” (Özyavuz, 2012, p. 152).
Along with that, with this project I am trying to give proposal of solving problems by the creator of problems. In the same time nature can be kind and can be rude, can be predicted and unpredicted, can be bright and mysterious, as well as it can cause disasters and it can be the main factor for solving them. The natural world functions in one circle, where one cause produces another, and vice versa. Natural resources in Qinahai are supply sources for making systems that can keep city and communities safe.
Because of that, these resources have to be sustainably managed and maintained, in order to make more interests of them, not just as a natural view and recreation zone. Hence, from the resulting integration of nature phenomena in climate with its natural ground spaces, the project of Sponge City + Sponge Superblocks has appeared as a strong concept and an articulating component for both. Confirming that point of view, strategies towards a clear and safe neighborhood include productive water system that holds and keeps whole city in one circle. The aims of the water system are connected with design of sponge city that involves artificial as well as natural area and makes ecological bond as an infiltration and sponge zone. Since the natural systems are living systems, a priority for design of wetland treatment is to ensure their protection involves understanding their structure and dynamics. According to that, the capacity of store water can be increased by improvement of soil structure. One more strategy is to involve community in the process. The system provides eco houses with new infiltration system in courtyards and streets.
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GuanKou drainage
Zhen-BaoKeng drainage
hill
QuiQu drainage
wetland
canal 3
main pool
deep canal
qianhai bay
canal 1
green finger
canal 2 scheme of water flow in sponge city + sponge superblocks author’s image
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Conforming that the rainwater is an important resource to work with in Qianhai, this project found it in the same time as a source for disasters caused by floods as well as a disposal for that problem. The main idea is to integrate water into the city and to vitalize the city with it.
Hence, with this project I am trying to solve problems by using the creator of the same. The system of Sponge City + Sponge Superblocks treats the rainwater not just as a waist to dispose of as quickly as possible, but also as need in domestic use and for irrigation, as well as a part of artificial and natural landscape design. Which means that the water system collects, absorb, store, drain, and purify rainwater. Moreover, the increase of quality of water, rises the quality of air as well as the attribute of life in Qianhai. The vision of this water protective system is to make a machine that working from the underground can control completely the neighborhood and provides low-carbon, eco-friendly and livable wetland landscape. As Mary Guzowski said in her article, the technology will play an integral role in the development of sustainable future. The water system has integrated new systems and technologies by assessing the level to which goals of sustainability have been achieved (Guzowski, 1995). Therewithal, the installation of underground drainage system is essential in order to help the drain of rainfall and underground water to the Canal 1.
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water system in Sponge Finger
scheme of water system author’s image
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The productive water system of Sponge City Superblocks consists of three systems: Water System in Sponge Finger, Water System in Wetland, and Water System in Sponge Superblocks. These three systems are connected to each other and, all together they make unbreakable composition that makes the system of Sponge City + Sponge Superblocks as one reusable and eco circle.
water system in Sponge Superblocks
water system in Wetland
Water System in Sponge Finger collects water from Underground Canal, Canal 1 and Canal 2. Afterwards, water flows throughout the vegetation that provides purification of water, and makes dynamic and watery public area. The Canal 2 brings water from another hill and from the water system in wetland that supports its function and collects underground water and rainwater from the main hill. The function of water system in wetland is to store water, ensure soil absorption of it, as well as the flow. Afterward, the water goes to the main big pool which collects water from all pools in the wetland, and enables an underground connection with the Canal 1. Hence, the rainwater from Danam hill can be absorbed or stored in wetland, which alleviates the function of Canal 1. The purpose of Water Systems in Sponge Superblocks is to collect rainwater from the green roof, filter strips and permeable pavements in courtyards. The collected water can be absorbed by soil or can be stored in underground tanks. Throughout the filtration processes, stored water can be used in some part of households, after which it goes to the sewage treatment. Subsequently when there is the dry season, it is also possible that stored water is used for irrigation.
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sketches - inspiration author’s image
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2.3. landscape pattern
Big green areas, community involves in a system, water as an appreciable value, fresh water pools for fish, and houses for birds are some signs along this road of designing the Sponge City + Sponge Superblocks.
The idea is to have big green neighborhood that can breaths by itself, due to the support by productive water system where the community has a share in it. The system consists of Bridge that connects activities and services of Green Finger with Wetland, and it continues with stretching to Danam hill. Actually the bridge connects directly the Qianhai Bay with the hill. Thus, it can be considered as a link between natural and artificial area. Moreover, it passes thorough the Sponge Superblocks and
connects them with wetland terraces: intervention in existing green area around Danam hill in order to reduce amount of water in Sponge Finger. Therefore, the Sponge City + Sponge Superblocks includes various activities related to diverse land use for preserving disasters (wetland, filter strips, canals, and pump station), purification of water and air (vegetation garden and ponds, forest), socialization and entertainment of communities (community garden, aquaponics park, bars, festival market, site theater, sky garden, and playgrounds), cultural education (open lab, vertical farming education, interactive pavilions on the top of the High school and Pump Station), and production purposes (agricultural productive zone, flower market, algae farms, and aquaculture).
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axonometry of Sponge City + Sponge Superblocks
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filter strips
new sponge superblocks buildings
water finger
permeable paviment
improved existing sponge superblocks buildings
bridges
sponge finger
wetland 8
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wetland activities • • • • • • • • • • • 66
preservation and protection of natural world ecological and sustainable research sponge area wetland wildlife viewing observation, sky garden (wilderness areas, ecological reserves, natural areas, cultural heritage) cultivation and agriculture (crops / tree plantations for food, fibber, feed) aquaculture and freshwater horticulture / plant propagation bird watching relaxing, jogging, walking, tai chi, yoga bars and restaurants
green finger activities • recreation (relaxing, walking, jogging, bicycling) • athletics (ground or saltwater / freshwater oriented) • theme parks • events/art • recreational transportation • ecotourism • education • picnics and meditation • reading • pavilions for products from flax • farmer’s markets • bars and restaurants
Sponge City + Sponge SuperBlocks services
supporting activities • • • • • •
recharge of groundwater (bioswales etc.) wastewater treatment (constructed wetlands) runoff control (check dams, bioswales etc.) carbon sequestration (carbon forests etc.) buffer zone between artificial and natural area improvement of existing buildings and design of new buildings (green vegetated roofs, eco system, residential rainwater harvesting) • intervention of courtyards (vegetated swale, filter strips, permeable pavements, vegetated detention basin) • infiltration structure • tree box
• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •
food (nutrition / animal food) freshwater and fresh air fiber (raw materials) genetic resources water filtration / purification water regulation (rainwater management / natural hazard protection) regulation of atmospheric composition crop pollination pest regulation (biological control) disease regulation (biological control) waste decomposition contaminants control habitat protection soil formation (maintenance of soil fertility) cultural services (spiritual, religious, and esthetic values) recreation and sport ecotourism knowledge system and education values
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68
section perspective
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3. technical strategies
“Wetlands exist at the interface between terrestrial and aquatic environments. They serve as sources, sinks, and transformers of materials.� (K. Ramesh Reddy et al., 2010).
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climate
wind
topography
water
soil
altitude
flora
fauna
biotic and abiotic factors that affect water system author’s graphic
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Sponge City + Sponge Superblocks landscape consists of both land and water systems, it overlaps with Water infrastructure. Water infrastructure, but provides hints for designing urban space addressing water supply, water control, filtration, and storage of water through wetland processes. Process can be described as the flow of energy and materials through landscape. These flows represent the impact of movement of water, plants, wind, people, and wildlife, and they are defined as process. Hence, water treatment includes abiotic and biotic factors: climate, wind, topography, water, soil, altitude, flora, and fauna. They all determinate the function of water system. The water treatment infrastructure represents a connection between multiple interrelationships between artificial and nature. Since it provides variety of goods and services, it usually overlaps with other services, especially if they are connected with natural processes. “Ecosystem services are the benefits provided to humans through the transformations of resources (or environmental assets, including land, water, vegetation and atmosphere) into a flow of essential goods and services e.g. clean air, water and food� (Pollalis, p. 53). Sustainable approach should be used to incor-
3.1. water treatment processes porate water cycle with the urban environment. In the cities, urban stormwater runoff is used to replicate the natural water system within urban boundaries. This urban stormwater management can be only done by using landscape infrastructure. The integration of stormwater management with the landscape system has various benefits. These benefits include water treatment, wildlife ecosystem support, recreation areas, and open public spaces. Landscape management provides controlled amount of runoff water, offering at the same time the infiltration and recharge of groundwater. Compared to traditional drainage system, landscape entities capture, purify and reuse the water through the soil and vegetation (Pollalis). Sponge City + Sponge Superblocks landscape creates water sinks as part of topography. They are used for water supply and control of runoff water. These sinks control the runoff of water, supply the groundwater, and infiltrate the water, (removing contamination of groundwater). Moreover, landscape system represents the habitat for wildlife and enhances the condition of open space. However, water is not separated from the plants and wherever we find water, vegetation is a part of it. Therefore, green spaces and water systems work together to deliver better life conditions
for not only humans, but for all living organisms.
Therefore, the function of the system is to treat, resolve and regulate rain water. In the project of Sponge City + Sponge Superblocks, the wetland is collecting the water from groundwater discharge, precipitation, streamflow, and runoff. All of these water sources are variable and can be changed according to weather conditions. Due to long rainfall season in Qianhai, Shenzhen, the project of wetland is adaptable to weather changes and to the huge amount of rainfall water which is collected. There are no dry periods in this wetland. However, some parts can be dry for temporary periods throughout the year. It divides the wetland into three soil zones: 1.Safety - usually dry soil, 2.Variable soil and, 3. Permanently wet soil. Hence, thee project wetland has significant impact on quality of water and the productivity of ecosystem and it serves as a sink, source and transformer of nutrients and other chemical contaminants (K. Ramesh Reddy et al., 2010, p. 8).
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rain
sponge area, courtyards, public spaces, streets, parking lots
nonpotable reuse
green roofs in SuperBlocks
filter strips
wetland
rainwater tank
irrigation
pools rain gardens
drainpipes
permeable materials
canal 1
sewage treatment
water system management author’s graphic
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Qianhai bay
infiltration groundwater recharge
The wetland treatment system is used to purify rainfall water, plums of water and groundwater from the hill. It is comprised by treatment ponds which are contained by algae, zooplankton, snails, bacteria, plant life, and aquatic organisms. Bioswale in wetland has a function to filter pollutants from storm runoff in order to benefits people quality of life in Sponge City + Sponge Superblocks.
The wetland represents the example of ecological system that is in correlation with vegetation and aquatic organisms, in order to make an efficient ecological system (Lehrman, 2012). Innovation system that is part of wetland is totally different from the traditional treatment of rainfall water. Hence, the water treatment includes, not just wetland and sponge area, but also buildings with green roofs and urban area with filters strips in courtyards, permeable public spaces, streets, parking lots etc.
All these components of the system can absorb, infiltrate water and provide reuse of water. Also, the treatment of wetland depends on the depth and flow of the water. It determinates the time that water spends in the wetland. These conditions depend on types of soil and nutrients which influence the wetland ecosystem and characterize wildlife which will be living there (biota). Moreover, the density of vegetation and aspect ratio can be modified according to the hydraulic factors. Furthermore, the depth storage of this wetland is characterized by landscape features, such as the slope of the terrain and the design of terraces. Due to the construction of natural wetland treatment and the usage of terraces as the natural slope, there is little or no variation in the water level at all. Therefore, the wetland is not determined by the inflows and outflows, but also by the characteristics of the wetland basin. It means that the wetland basin has to be flexible as the inflows and outflows of water.
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stormwater treatment benefits: • • • •
prevents flooding supports the function of canal 1 increases infiltration and groundwater recharge protects water bodies from urban runoff contaminants
limitations: • low permeability in dense urban centers
water purification
stormwater treatment system
water purification system
type of water
stormwater
recycled/ untreated freshwater
destination
irrigation, discharge, infiltration, wetland
consumers, Qianhai bay, wetland
origin
benefits: • • • • •
health improvement prevents waterborne diseases eco system protection increase the air quality vegetation improvement
limitations: • energy consumption • plants should be located between supply and consumption centers in order to reduce infrastructure network and energy needs for conveyance benefits and limitations of water treatment and main water distribution in the project - author’s graphic
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The purpose of water treatment project is to make water quality acceptable for neighborhood, to control floods in the neighborhood, and to protect it from negative impacts such as pollution, odors, noise etc. This involves both infrastructure and processes in the system and, it has to protect the nature and ecosystem. Therefore, there are two main water treatment systems which are used in the project: stormwater treatment and water purification. The aim of stormwater treatment is to remove pollutants from the water and reuse it or return it to the nature without any harm for the ecosystem. The reused water can be used in households but not as potable water. Water purification treats the contaminated water through vegetation and removes the toxic materials, making water clean and improving the quality of water. There are four different stages of water puri-
fication treatment: coagulation (where smaller particles stick together through chemical processes in water and form bigger particles), sedimentation (the sinking of bigger particles due to their weight and their accumulation at the bottom), filtration (the passing of water through different filters which remove any remaining smaller particles), and disinfection (the elimination of microorganisms or bacteria from the water). After purification is this done, water is stored in tanks awaiting its next distribution. According to the stormwater treatment and water purification systems as origins of water supply in Sponge City + Sponge Superblocks, there are two types of water: stormwater and recycled/untreated freshwater. The destinations of stormwater flow are: irrigation, discharge, infiltration, and wetland, while on the other hand, the destinations of recycled/untreated freshwater are: consumers, Qianhai bay, and wetland.
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water purification provisioning services provision of fresh water
sink
quality protection
reservoirs of rainwater
water flow
torrents and streams
infiltration
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regulating services water filtration and regulation (rainwater, stormwater management, natural hazard protection)
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capture and storage
green bond
sponge area wetland
infiltration
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flood control
water treatment servicies in wetland project author’s graphic
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sources
The Sponge City + Sponge Superblocks system uses natural water processes to treat stormwater and reduce the quantity of runoff water. Its solution is to incorporate the decentralized harvesting or rainwater. It is a sustainable solution for non-potable water. Surface and groundwater are interconnected, with flows which go from one to the other. Therefore, the change in resources of one affects the other. Besides, the water treatment reduces stormwater runoff, flooding, erosion of surface, contamination, and energy use. The project of water treatment in Sponge City + Sponge Superblocks provides two type of services: provisioning that is correlated with provision of fresh water and regulating services in order to filtrate water and to regulate rainwater, stormwater management, and natural hazard protection. These services are connected with the functions of water treatment as well as the main functions of wetland. The functions of water treatment (water purification, quality protection, runoff control / natural drainage, capture and storage, infiltration, and flood control) are placed in wetland and answer on its activities and content. Therefore, they are interconnected with the wetland pattern, that includes reservoirs of rainwater, torrents and streams, and sponge area. Moreover, the correlation between the functions of water treatment and wetland pattern, leads to the connection with the main functions of wetland. Hence, all services and functions, that are part of the water treatment process, are interconnected and they all make a productive circle of the project.
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Sponge City + Sponge Superblocks
wetland area of intervention: 628 685 m2
filter strips area of intervention: 19 163 m2
permeable pavements area of intervention: 15 408 m2
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normal conditions average monthly rainfall: August 400 mm in 18 days Intensity of the rain (I): 0.852 mm/hour capacity: 251 474 m3
capacity: 7 665 m3
extreme conditions average precipitation: September 1180 mm in 30 days Intensity of the rain (I): 1.64 mm/hour
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capac ity: 741 848 m3
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capasity of infiltration area in the project adopted from: https://weather-and-climate.com 2017
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capacity: 18 181 m3
3.2. ‘green’ infrastructure
The aim of the project is to turn ‘gray’ infrastructure into ‘green’ infrastructure, which has to combine artificial and natural landscape in order to solve rainfall issue in Qianhai, Shenzhen. The average amount of yearly precipitations is 999.9 mm - 39.37 in (https://weather-and-climate.com).
of water. The depth of the water in treatment wetland can vary, which involves changes of few centimeters in the basin. “If the nominal detention time in the wetland is 10 days, then a 10% change in stored water represents one day’s addition of wastewater” (Robert H. Kadlec et al, 2009, p. 26).
According to that the Sponge City + Sponge Superblocks includes three programs: wetland, filter strips, and permeable pavement, which functions are to absorb, store, and purify rainwater.
Since the main function of this wetland is to prevent disasters which can be caused by floods and high amount of rainfall, it is important to know the total water storage of the wetland pools. The water storage is the total volume of water which is stored in FWS (Ann McCauley, 2005).
The amount of water runoff and flooding can be largely influenced by changes in the landscape, i.e. changes in land cover. Moreover, these changes can affect the amount of water storage and are present as a result of conversion of wetlands or the replacement of green areas with croplands, or croplands with urban areas. Since this wetland can collect certain amount of water, it is important to understand the inflow and the location of the rainfall. Due to extreme conditions, wetland has to adapt and change its water storage to accommodate increased amount
Therefore, calculation of water storage is: A=dV/dH Where: A – wetland area [m2], H – wetland depth [m], and V – wetland water volume [m3]. In this calculation, the volume of vegetation is not included.
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wetland - Sponge City
Artificial system of water treatment using wetland with vegetation is designed to remove contaminants. Although it needs to have an area which will be used for treatment, it can be operated at low-cost, and cheap operation and maintenance. Water reduction: 40 L (53%), Removal efficiency (TS, TC, TKN) 51-69 %. Subsurface gravel wetlands resemble natural wetlands both form-wise and function-wise, with a high performance of removing sediments, nutrients, and other pollutants commonly found in runoff.
subdrain Ă˜15
Their gravel substrate creates a rich environment for microbes, making them particularly well suited for nutrient removal. This capability makes gravel wetlands ideal for areas with impaired receiving waters and nutrient total maximum daily loads. The upper layer of the soil is the unsaturated zone, where water is present in varying amounts that change over time, but does not saturate the soil. Below this layer is the saturated zone, where all of the pores, cracks, and spaces between rock particles are saturated with water.
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filter strips - Sponge Superblocks native plants absorb runoff and pollutants while attracting songbirds and butterflies
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parmeable pavement - Sponge Superblocks
perforated underdrain Ă˜8 to carry overflow stormwater into nearby sewage treatment 25 6 150.00 5
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evapotranspiration perforated underdrain Ă˜8
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filter strips - Sponge Superblocks
Filter strips act to temporarily store and infiltrate the runoff into the ground. Sediments are removed from the water, and vegetation can take up any nutrients in the water. Filter strips can be integrated into the surrounding land use.
bioretention soil mix (20% topsoil, 30% compost and 50% sand) root zone aids in nutrient uptake, microbial activity and infiltration
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sand blanket
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planting ponding zone allows pollutants to settle and organic matter to accumulate
pea gravel
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gravel backfill for drywells
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parmeable pavement - Sponge Superblocks
The higher up the sub-base it is placed, the greater will be the quantity of water stored before overflow conditions occur. The overflow pipes would be installed at some distance from their neighbouring pipes, therefore giving the collected water maximum opportunity to go to ground before being removed by pipe to a sewer system.
6 mm joint
Water is collected from a large surface area, stored in the filter drains and allowed to infiltrate through the soil. The permeable fill traps sediments and thereby cleans the runoff.
24
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permeable paviment typical permeable concrete block with offset nibs 6-8mm of clean grit laying course upper geo-textile (to prevent trickle down) 20-50 clean aggregat / sub - base lower geo-textile to separate the reservoir layers from the adjacent soil subgrade sub - grade scale 1: 10
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4. design proposal
“Site’s physical and sensual properties are sources for design expression” (Meyer, 2005, p. 93).
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existing facilities
improvement of existing facilities and new spots
existing connection
new connection
path - combination of existing and new connection
pattern of the concept - author’s graphic
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4.1. design pattern
The area of intervention is identified by the characteristics of topography, vegetation, soil, and hydraulic. Accordingly, the project of eco wetland system responds sensitively to the landscape.
Hence, this ecological wetland has emerged as a re-organization of existing green area near the Danam hill. The open system of wetland and sponge superblocks can grow and sustain itself. Rainfall water is at the same time resource and waste. Importing rainfall water as a waste, then purifying it, using it as a resource to cultivate plants and vegetation. In this system, functions work opposite then in general system of ecology. It takes waste and produces new resources in order to make new sustainable circle. Redesigning and reshaping part of rare nature landscape in Qianhai, Shenzhen, represents nature as the design material for eco cycle and wetland system (Foxley, 2010). Therefore, the idea of improvement of existing green spaces implicates four methods:
exploitation, conservation, creative destruction, and renovation, which lead to an adaptive cycle. Hence, throughout the design, points of existing facilities are targeted, in order to achieve the idea of multifunctional high-performance system of Sponge City + Sponge Superblocks. Thereafter, the existing points are emphasized by the bridge that connects them and completes the image of existing situation in green area around Danam hiil. The concept of improving existing facilities has been spread by adding new facilities. New facilities includes not just wetland activities, but also activities from surrounding area. Therefore, the system involves connections throughout sponge area - wetland and sponge superblocks area - existing and new buildings. The bridge that connects these two areas is set in relation to the bridge that connects existing facilities. In order to make simplified path as interconnection between sponge area and sponge superblocks, i.e. natural and artificial area, the project represents the paths as a combination of existing and new connection.
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danam hill
intersection of evergreen
qingqing food chamber
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yueliangwan park
zhulin tea art
evergreen resort
peacock park
tropical rain forest
ecological corner
ceramic art hall
south mountain garden
residential part
existing facilitiestaken from Google Earth 2017
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danam hill intersection of evergreen qingqing food chamber yueliangwan park zhulin tea art evergreen resort peacock park tropical rain forest and ecological corner ceramic art hall south montain garden residential part
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path - combination of existing and new connection
topography of the site
from the path to the bridge
the bridge
bridge that connects new facilities
bridge that connects pools in wetland
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The design proposal is based on the relationship between inhabitants and the urban ecosystem in order to implement as much as possible a self-sufficient cycle. Wetland is modulated as per conditions of existing neighborhood, buildings and parks in the green space around the hill. In order to minimize the damage to the environmental natural system, the aim of my wetland project is to adapt to existing soil morphology and to fit in the natural slope. According to the shape of systematic path that connects improved existing (residential buildings, Evergreen resort, Qingqing food chamber, Yueliangwan park, Zhulin tea art, Peacock park, Tropical rain forest, Ecological corner, Ceramic art hall, South mountain garden, and residential part) and new facilities (educational pavilions on the roof of District High School, auditorium in the stadium, interactive and green pavilions on the top of Pump Station, and new buildings) in Sponge City + Sponge Superblocks, my project proposes the design of a net of bridges. These bridges, as connections, cover whole area and represent interconnection between natural and artificial land. They follow the flow of facilities and activities throughout the design area. Wetland’s pools are placed according to the topography of the site. So, the wetland is designed in regard to the natural shape of the green area. The system of bridges connects the different pools and make them accessible for visitors, tourists, communities, workers etc. Moreover, they include pavilions which function is to overcome the heights between terraces in wetland.
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danam hill - sky walk sky garden and observation point improvement of yueliangwan park preservation of peacock park improvement of zhulin tea art and evergreen resort sky walk observation point and forest preservation of tropical rain forest and ceramic art hall preservation of residential part south montain garden improvement of existing buildings improvement of courtyard in district high school, implication of educational pavilions on the roof design of auditorium in stadium according to the flow and direction of the main bridge intervention on the top of pump station with interactive and green pavilions design of new superblocks
location of wetland design
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water catching
water flow
infiltration
wetland
green bond
habitat
urban resources main functions of wetland - author’s graphic
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There are six main functions that characterize wetland. First one is water catching that is related to the space where rainwater and water from the hill can be collected. It is connected to the natural water flow that links all sinks in wetland. The functions of area covered with water is not just to store it, but also to infiltrate water in a ground, as well as to flow water to the underground drainage systems. In order to purify the water, this infiltration area is covered with diversity vegetations, where various insects can live. The wetland area represents a suitable and healthy environment for communities with abundant green spaces. Due to the main functions the composition of wetland is placed in natural area around the Danam hill.
4.2. from services to program activities normal conditions
safety - usually dry soil A - not flooded area: 467 498 m2
flood - permanent wet soil A - water area: 100 503 m2 H - wetland depth: 1.15 m V - water volume: 115 578 m3 extreme conditions
variable soil A - possible flooded green area: 221 499 m2
variable soil A - possible flooded blue area: 310 973 m2 H - wetland depth: 1.15 m V - water volume: 357 619 m3
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reservoirs of rainwater, underground water, and water from the hill that are connected to the Canal 1 and support its function of collecting water
water catching
water flow
torrents and streams that connect reservoirs in the wetland and flow water to the main reservoir
infiltration
level of permeability from hard surface - gray infrastructure, to the soft surface - green infrastructure (permeable pavement, filter strips, wetland)
green bond
superblocks wetland
sponge area - wetland - as a connection between natural and artificial landscape arboreous shrubs herbaceous
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agriculture productive zone, floating fields, food crops, fruit plantations, plant nurseries, urban allotments etc. - home for various animals and insects, and diversity plants
The design of Sponge City wetland involves five factors that represent a crucial part in constriction of it. First important thing for productive eco wetland is diversity that considers biodiversity, territorial diversity as well as eco diversity. The second one is connectivity that indicates making of ecosystemic and territorial networks and interconnections. Afterthere coupling that Özyavuz explained as “the ecological connections aren´t enough, they also require energy, matter and information exchange by coupling between system’s components. System functionality requires the complementation and integration of their components” (Özyavuz, 2012, p. 166). Location that refers to the conditions in which technology and ecosystem have to be adapted. And at the end, recurrence that specifies to management of eco system and “this is equivalent to recycling in natural ecosystems” (Özyavuz, 2012, p. 166).
main wetland functions applied in the project - author’s graphic
According to that, the main functions of wetland are implicated in the project. The water catching includes ten pools that are placed in natural terraces of wetland to collect rainwater, underground water, and water from the Danam hill. They are interconnected with torrents, streams, and underground water flow. Their aim is to flow rainwater to the main pool, which is underground connected with the Canal 1. Thus, the system represents displacement of hard surface into soft surface, i.e. ‘gray’ infrastructure into ‘green’ infrastructure. Moreover, the infiltration function is not just related to the wetland area, but also to the sponge superblocks area with permeable pavements and filter strips.
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productive
resource
ecological
tourist
educational
multifunctional performance of Sponge City + Sponge Superblocks
pattern of facilities in the project author’s graphic
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recreational
Natural green area that includes wetland as a main part of it, represents a vital element of values of ecology, recreation, knowledge, agriculture, and pleasure. Moreover, social rate is increased allowing to people fresh air, natural atmosphere and attractions, “which reflects people’s natural perception” (Özyavuz, 2012, p. 107). Hence, the wetland design is made for society purposes, not just because of their entertainment or green view, but also to keep their rear natural view safe. According to that, the multifunctional performance of Sponge City + Sponge Superblocks includes: productive, resource, ecological, tourist, educational, and recreational facilities. The wetland design is the consequence from the technological activities that made natural surrounding area more effective concerning to preserving the environment from flood. The project emphasizes the importance of cooperation between natural and artificial world, which replaces the consumption with regeneration. Thus, the function of this project is all about system; who are its actors, how does it function, how does it persevere, how does it sustain itself? Actually, the system represents “interaction among its agents” (Edward J. Jepson, 2009, p. 2). This area is a host environment that serves as a natural world in artificial surroundings. The backbone of that correlation is signal from its host environment, that makes interaction as a main function of the system (Mollison, 1990). But, that interaction
involves also a human being and it represents a fundamental instrument to include ecosystems, human societies and natural as well as artificial landscapes as a whole. Actually, at the beginning, the purpose of green spaces was to “resolve natural longing of people” (Özyavuz, 2012, p. 107). Therefore, human society also represents a system that has to interact with natural system, in order to make balance and productive result. Following Edward J. Jepson (2009, p. 5) “The “human system” is defined by the activity of human beings acting as agents, both individually and in collective associations” that they can contribute to the stability of the host system. But the human system is under the control of natural system and “everyone holds some portion of the ecological worldview within him or herself” (Edward J. Jepson, 2009, p. 7). However, this control can be accepted and put in a shape that is convenient for sustainable design and system of wetlands. To get deeper in function of urban green spaces and purpose of natural environment in Qianhai, “it is necessary understand the ontology and epistemology of the relation and interaction between Nature and human society” (Özyavuz, 2012, p. 171). Hence, this design proposal addresses following questions: What does the project system mean to human society? Does the human being can be actor in this system? Is he controlled by the collapse and feedbacks of the system? Does this system provide guidelines for his role in the systematic life in order to prevent disasters? The answer to all of these questions is yes.
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productive
water catching
resource
water flow
ecological
infiltration
balancing supply
mitigating extreme conditions
wetland system tourist
green bond
educational
habitat
recreational
urban resources
enhancing people’s experience
connection between facilities and main functions in the project of wetland - author’s graphic
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In the wetland project, pedestrian walk is emphasized through the path walk, open green spaces, bridges, paths on the hill, jogging traces and other similar elements. The idea was not just to make sensitive connection between natural and artificial landscape, but also to force communities to discover potentials, attributes and atmospheres of the nature. The most convenient way to explore the landscape is by walking, where walkers become part of it (Schultz, 2014). They can create knowledge, transfer ideas, integrate their engagement in perceiving the space, encourage their intuitions and let themselves flow in harmony with the natural surroundings.
“When walkers enter the flow mode, the space becomes diffuse scenery and walkers let their thoughts stray, following their intuition. Walking and awareness merge� (Adri van den Brink et al., 2017, p. 184). According to that, the open system provides balancing supply, mitigating extreme conditions, and enhancing experience of communities, visitors, tourists, explorers etc. These services refer to the facilities that are related to the main functions of wetland. Therefore, the interconnections between services, facilities, and main functions that are provided by Sponge City, make the whole system as a productive and sustained circle.
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sponge superblocks
roof gardens
private gardens
community allotments
wetland
vertical farms - hydroponic green houses
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floating fields
agriculture productive zone
In the Sponge City + Sponge Superblocks project the relationships between a human being and natural spaces, birds and air, topography settings and orientations, soil types and participations, as well as botany and horticulture are emphasized (Meyer, 2005). Hence, the water-biota relationship is also important in wetland. Due to the significant rule of vegetation in this wetland design (purification of water), the site is made according to the plant’s point of view. Conforming with the basics needs of plants: oxygen and carbon dioxide with percept in respiration and photosynthesis, light to afford the energy for photosynthesis, water and nutrients that are mined by plant roots from the soil, and appropriate temperature in order to manage the plant growth, the wetland project is set in landscape (Trowbridge et al., 2004). Thus, my project of wetland consists: hydroponic green houses, floating fields and agriculture productive zone. Due to the specific soil pH and physical characteristics that influence oxygen in root area and water existing, the plants have to be chosen carefully conducive to existing conditions. According to these factors, solution of site modification and correctly plant selection can give better results. Correspondingly, the amendment of existing soil, to the extant conditions for wetland treatment, includes fine grained soil (clay, made of “platy” minerals) with high porosity
and high field capacity (Trowbridge et al., 2004). Parts of low carbon project are also Sponge Superblocks that are mixed-use, thoughtfully-dense, people-oriented, and ecologically-responsive for Qianhai, Shenzhen. Beside the green roofs and system of collecting water and draining into a filtration tank, the Sponge Superblocks include the design of interior-focused courtyards and community allotments. They might encourage interactions between community members if the quality of the urban and landscape design promoted personal engagement. More likely, the Sponge Superblocks spatial design is based on schemes of filter strips and permeable pavements, which collect water and keep the neighborhood safe. Moreover, they lead to little public open space or community engagement. Nowadays in design of cities in China, the connectivity or continuity between superblocks is rare, especially when the only way to enter a superblock is through a small number of guarded passageways along unfriendly expanses of sterile walls. According to that, this project of Sponge Superblocks in the Sponge City has aim, not just to collect water, but also to gather people. It incorporates human society, as a system, into this circular productive eco system of the project. Hence, the purpose of the project is to make a neighborhood that can ‘breathe’ by itself.
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5. wetland design
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a
30.00
18.50 27.00
19.20
19.00
18.50
18.00
26.40
24.00
24.00
41.40 33.60
21.60
30.00
20.40
21.20 21.00
20.80
19.80
26.40 21.60
21.60
18.50
20.60
21.00
20.80 19.00
b
20.80 21.20 20.60
wetland plan
19.20 23.00 23.00
23.00
zhulin tea art
0
10
20
50
decoding artificial and natural landscape
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1. community garden activities • theme parks (preservation and observation natural life) • recreation (walking, jogging, tai chi, yoga) • picnics and meditation • reading • bars and restaurants • water promenade • education • foot reflexology • playground for dogs • adventure playground • water playground • bubble playground 114
2. aquaponik park activities • • • • • • • • • • • • •
yueliangwan park agricultural productive zone vertical farming education farmer’s markets flower market green houses interactive bio houses ecotourism pavilions for open vegetation lab pavilions for products from flax pavilions for birds floating fields algea farm
3. zhulin tea art activities • • • • • • • • • • • • •
festival market bars and restaurants pavilions for art site theatre outdoor projecting sky walk forest sky garden observation points paths for jogging and walking paths for driving bikes bus stations vegetation pool for cleaning water
1.
GSPublisherVersion 0.0.100.100
2.
3.
plan of activities in wetland
decoding artificial and natural landscape
115
116
site theatre
+18.00
+19.00 +18.50
+19.20
overcoming height
+16.50
+16.00
+16.80
+16.80
+15.95
+15.80
floating fields
+16.00
+16.50
+16.80
+14.10 +14.20 +15.30
vertical farms
+13.90
community garden
+14.20 +14.10
+14.30
+14.40
+13.40 +13.60 +13.90
+14.40
+13.90
+11.30
+14.40
GSPublisherVersion 0.0.100.100
0 10
section a-a
20 50
decoding artificial and natural landscape
117
sky walk
+37.80
+41.40
observation point
+33.60
+33.60
+30.00
+28.00
street for cars
pedestrian path
+26.40
+21.20
+24.00
+20.60
+20.80
+21.20
+20.60 +20.80
+20.80
+21.20
overcoming height
+21.60
+19.00
+18.50
118
+16.60
yuelingwan park
green houses
+16.50
+16.60
+16.70
+14.10 +14.20 +15.30 +16.80
flower garden
play ground
community garden
+14.10
+14.30 +14.20
+11.50 +13.00 +14.40
+12.00
+11.00 +11.30 +11.50
GSPublisherVersion 0.0.100.100
section b-b
0 10 20 50
decoding artificial and natural landscape
119
+30.00
sky walk
+26.40
+21.20
+20.80
+24.00
+20.80
+21.20
+20.80
+20.80
+21.20
+18.00 +18.50 +21.60
+21.60
+19.20
site theatre
+18.00
+18.50
+19.00
+16.70
H 360cm - to overcome 120cm +0.00
H 600cm - to overcome 360cm
+0.60
H 480cm - to overcome 720cm
+3.60
+1.80
+4.80
+3.00
+3.00
+2.40
+4.20
+3.60
+1.20
H 480cm - to overcome 240cm +2.40
+0.60
+1.80
+1.20
+2.40
+1.80
+0.00
+3.60
H 660cm - to
H 840cm - to
+3.00 overcome 420cm overcome 600cm
+1.20
+4.20
+2.40
+6.00
+4.20
+0.60
+3.60
+3.00
+5.40
+4.80
H 1800cm - to overcome 1560cm
+2.40 +0.60
+1.80
+3.60
+1.20
+3.00
+2.40
+4.20
+1.80
+2.40
+1.20
+0.00
+1.80
+2.40
+1.20
+0.60
+0.60
+1.20
+0.00
+1.80
+3.60
+3.00
+15.60
+13.80
+15.00
+14.40
H 960cm - to overcome 740cm 7.20
5.40
6.60
+6.00
H 1320cm - to overcome 1080cm
+3.00
+9.60
+8.40
+9.00
10.20
10.80
+3.60 +7.80 +0.60
+7.20
+0.00 +4.80
5.40
+4.20
+3.60 +1.80
+2.40
plans of various types of pavilions
120 0
10
20
+3.00
+2.40
+0.00
axonometry of pavilion
decoding artificial and natural landscape
121
122
axonometry of wetland project in normal conditions (average monthly rainfall: August 400 mm in 18 days)
decoding artificial and natural landscape
123
124
axonometry of wetland project in extreme conditions (average precipitation: September 1180 mm in 30 days)
decoding artificial and natural landscape
125
126
decoding artificial and natural landscape
127
128
decoding artificial and natural landscape
129
conclusion The target of my project proposal is to approach and rebuild existing ecosystem that coexists with human presence. The initial point was an investigation of the soil morphology that can be improved and adapted to support existing conditions. Hence, discovering and understanding the topography of Qianhai’s green area in China, is the main intention which influenced and shaped the idea behind the concept. Following the technical details on which the project is based, the wetland system is established as a part of water treatment in the Sponge City + Sponge Superblocks. The scope of design project expanded from soil manipulation and enhancement, in order to secure the city from disasters caused by floods. Manipulation of soil surface includes design of water ponds and streams that caused design expansion from the soil to buildings. Questioning the benefits of buildings and furthermore, the design of new ones, concludes the eco purpose of the project design. Hence, the soil, water, and green buildings represent components of water treatment which form the project as productive, reusable and eco circle. Moreover, the testing of infiltration soil leads to scheme of built parts in wetland, which purpose is to merge all segments of the Sponge City + Superblocks into one productive metabolism. Therefore, the project Decoding Artificial and Natural Landscape combines all parts of the neighborhood in an exchangeable and sustainable green machine.
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