Suzhou Taihu Linghuzhu Park

Project Profile

1. Project Statement

Taihu Linghuzhu Park is located in Linhu Town, Wuzhong District, Suzhou City. It covers an area of 22 hectares. The park is located on the north side of  Dongshan Peninsula, faces Dongshan and Xishan Mountain across the water. It is part of the 9th Jiangsu Garden Expo Suzhou Garden. The main exhibition area is also the venue for the opening ceremony of the Garden Expo.

The design aims to transform a suburban park that nobody visits into a "New Suzhou" garden where the natural and cultural landscapes of the Taihu Lake Basin are intertwined. During the Expo, the park assumes important functions such as the exhibition, reception, and opening ceremony of, highlighting modern Suzhou gardens; after the Expo, it will become a high-quality lakeside business resort in Suzhou, and the urban backyard for Suzhou citizens around Taihu Lake.

2. Objective and Challenge

This project faces two major challenges:

(1) Suzhou garden Design have a long history. How to inherit and carry forward the classical garden culture and use modern design language and techniques to show the beauty of Suzhou gardens?

(2) The park is located on the shore of Taihu Lake. The groundwater level of the site is high and it has been eroded by floods for a long time. How to create a water-adaptable landscape, achieve water purification, enrich the diversity of animals and plants, and display the classic Su-style lakeside polder wetland habitat?

3. Design Strategy

1) Making land in a polder while painting with fields

Linghuzhu is located on the shore of Taihu Lake and originated from Taihu Lake. This project took on the experience and wisdom of the Taihu people in flood control, using the existing terrain, stacking mountains and managing water, reshaping topography, and balancing earthwork to create a unique Binhu polder wetland ecosystem.

2) Water purification

four major types of habitats were designed: deep-water aquatic habitat, shallow-water aquatic habitat, flat ground habitat, and terrace habitat, and an ecological water purification system was made with the height difference of the site. Water purification is divided into surface flow wetland purification area, subsurface flow wetland purification area and oxidation pond purification area. While purifying the water quality, it creates a habitat and reproduction area for plant and animal species.

3) Rice and lotus, productive and beautiful

The design took inspiration from the farmland patches of the site to form the landscape texture of the terraces. Plant planting follows the principle of ecological adaptability, gives full play to the ecological purification function of plants, builds low-maintenance plant communities, and forms a majestic, ecologically natural modern Su-style pastoral.

4) Recreation on the paddy fields

Construct a multi-level road system with twists and turns and uneven heights. Skywalk, bicycle lanes, board walks, field paths, etc., together forms a three-dimensional pedestrian network in the park, where visitors are immersed in the beautiful scenery.

5) Living on the Taihu Lake

A lakeside commercial and leisure block is built along Taihu Lake. The architectural layout and site texture are closely integrated, and the scenery interface is ensured to the greatest extent. The block is a great place to get an overview of Taihu Lake.

4. Conclusion

The completion of the project has brought a distinctive Riverside Ecological Park, which is a new practice of Taihu Lake's ecological restoration. The garden is full of green trees and animals, artificial design is integrated with the nature. Here, you can enjoy the scenery of the four seasons and taste the fresh fruits at any time. It provides an ideal place for the citizens to enjoy a colorful and leisure lifestyle.