Tangshan Super Greenway

Project Profile

1. Project Statement

“Tangshan Super Greenway” is planned and designed by the Turenscape led by Professor Kongjian Yu of Peking University. The first phase is a 10.5 km barrier-free greenway connecting all kinds of ecological resources in Tangshan.

First, super greenway is a convenient facility for the people. Based on the function of pedestrian overpass, it integrates the concept of Greenway and realizes the continuous barrier-free paths from Donghu park to Nanhu Park.

Second, super greenway is an ecological green corridor through the city. It links green sceneries together, including three mountains, three parks, a lake, Donghu flower sea, and riverbanks along the east of the city.

Third, super greenway is a vigorous and healthy greenway. It integrates sports and playing facilities along its way. It is also an energetic corridor for jogging, cycling, and other activities.

Finally, super greenway is a wonderful cultural tourism route. It connects Tangshan Industrial Museum, Qixin 1889, Peiren Historical and Cultural District, Tangshan Earthquake Monument Square, Kailuan National Mine Park, and other scenic spots. It is becoming a new carrier of Tangshan eco-tourism and industrial culture tourism.

2. Objective and Challenge

Challenge 1. the existing site conditions are complicated: In the construction of 10.5km greenway and landscape bridge, there are many issues which need to be deal with, such as underground pipeline layouts, steep terrain, and all kinds of urban infrastructure along the way. The design team compared several schemes on the route selection, repeatedly adjusted the design details to solve the complex site conditions.

Challenge 2. complex ownerships of the site: The project site involves many different ownerships and cross over different types of land uses, including the industrial land of Tangshan Iron and Steel Co., Ltd; Fenghuangshan, Dachengshan, Dazhao Park, and other urban green space; Tangshan Earthquake Monument Square and Nanhu Film and Television Base. By communicating with different government sectors, our design team adjusted the routes many times and finally met the requirements successfully.

Challenge 3. the natural landscape along the way is variable: The project covers a variety of natural and urban landforms from the lush mountains to the busy city streets, from the solemn Earthquake Monument to the beautiful weeping willows in Nanhu Park. Our design team customized design to respond to different landscape conditions.

3. Design Strategy

Tangshan is famous for a Phoenix City in China. Therefore, the theme of “Tangshan Super Greenway” is Phoenix. The concept is "The colorful flying Phoenix, a leisurely green corridor". The color which extracted from Phoenix is applied to different sections of bridge gradually. The principle of color arrangement is to find the harmony with its surrounding.

The red bridge: Red is the main color of the landscape bridges that pass through energetic zones or busy streets in the city. The passionate red color, like the Phoenix reborn in the fire and gets eternal life. At the same time, it symbolizes the red steel, showing the industrial history and the spirit of Tangshan. Beixin road landscape bridge passes through Tangshan City Exhibition Hall and Tangshan Museum. Our design strategy is to use red and brown colors for the bridge, to symbolize the red steel and the past of Tangshan. This bridge has become a media connecting the history and future of Tangshan. Fenghuang road landscape bridge is located in the downtown area, connecting Fenghuang Mountain Park and Wenhua Road. Both of these are the vitality areas of the city. Therefore, enghuang road landscape bridge also adopts red color to represent the vitality of the city.

The golden bridge: The golden yellow landscape bridges are close to large parks, mountains, and other natural landforms, which is a metaphor of “Phoenix Nirvana” or “Golden Phoenix in the sky”. Yellow and green are adjacent colors and both of which are common colors in the nature. Such color selection can not only blend with the nature, but also highlight the beauty of the bridge. Such as Douhe landscape bridge crosses the Douhe River, connecting Tanggang Square in the East and Dachengshan Park East entrance square in the West. The bright yellow as its basic color which makes Douhe landscape bridge looks like a Golden Phoenix, flying over the steep river. Another example, the bright golden color for Dachengshan landscape bridge, which blends with the mountain color in autumn, and enhances the vitality of mountain sports. Last but not least, the Jianshe south road landscape bridge has played a role in connecting the Tangshan earthquake film and television base. The overall lighting effect of yellow bridge makes the landscape bridge like a Golden Phoenix dancing near the South Lake Park.

The silver bridge: Because the landscape bridge is close to the Memorial square, Xinhua road landscape bridge adopts a less saturated silver-gray color, which shows respect for the monument and memorial hall. The end of the landscape bridge falls in the Northeast green space of the Memorial square. And the existing trees are retained to cover the bridge body, preventing the impact on the entrance and axis of the memorial square.

4. Conclusion

“Tangshan Super Greenway” is a project for the people which greatly improved the citizens' leisure environment and the accessibility of open space; “Tangshan Super Greenway” is an urban renewal, which improved the urban environment, quality of life, and enriched the city image. And it realized the goal of "a modern international city suitable for living, working and tourism" of Tangshan.