Wuhan OCT Eco Art Peninsula and Wetland Park Landscape Design

AECOM Hong Kong

Short description

The OCT Wetland Park uniquely blends water, art, and landscapes to provide distinctive recreational and educational experiences and enhanced biodiversity. The park helps realize balanced ecological and social development goals by providing inspiration and engagement to support the long-term sustainable management of the Wuhan East Lake.

The design is inspired by its unique location, one of the eight scenic points of the East Lake Green Belt network, called 'The Long Island of 100 Meadows'. A series of leisure and educational programs are strategically placed to reveal the beauty of nature: the Parkland and Meadows, Reed Gardens, the Swamp Pine Walk, the Butterfly Garden, the native Water Gardens, and the Wetland Reserve. Each landscape typology was carefully designed to provide habitats for native wetland flora and fauna.

The damaged site was composed of abandoned farmland and fishponds. One key goal was to see the challenges of the existing conditions and remaining vegetation as opportunities to restore and create a healthy ecosystem. Existing trees, including the threatened Metasequoia glyptostroboides (water fir), have been preserved and reutilized to create the Swamp Pine Walk, one of the critical features of this wetland park. The design uses natural processes to improve the overall site and water conditions. Water systems within the park function as a filtration system channeling water into Wetland Park. Reedbeds in the park filter and clean water drawn from East Lake and improve the water quality from grade 4 to grade 2 by circulating it through the park's wetlands before discharging it back into the lake.

Ultimately, the park's design was to create artful nature-based and leisure activities. By blending the needs of the community with the water ecosystem, the design successfully reveals the beauty of the natural processes, educates visitors, and provides a place for people to enjoy.