Skip to content

Honoring the city’s rich history of poets with an immersive landscape that awakens all five senses

Jinan CBD Vanke Park

Client
China Anqi Real Estate Development Co., Ltd.
Location
Jinan, China
Size
1.07 hectares
Services
Landscape Architecture
Status
Completed July 2018

Known as the City of Springs, Jinan is also the birthplace of many significant cultural figures. A rich history of poets including the Song Dynasty Li Qingzhan, Xin Qiji, to contemporary writers Lao She, Shen Congwen, and to the widely-read Indian poet Rabindranath Tagore, also casts Jinan as a “City of Poets.” Inspired by surviving fragments of poetry, Jinan CBD Vanke Park awakens the five senses of the visitor through a fully immersive nature experience within the city.

Sight, sound, taste, smell, and touch are provoked through a series of dynamic gardens which encircle the “green heart” at the park’s center. The “Wind of the Sun” welcomes visitors into the grand entrance on the northern edge of the park. A large performance plaza is activated with yearround seasonal uses, including skating, temporary art installations, interactive light displays, music, and theatrical performances. A dynamic botanical display blooms large clouds of cherry blossoms in the spring.

Planting throughout the park showcases the four seasons, placing special emphasis on color and texture to enhance the users experience through the winter months. Fragrance and taste take the lead in the Taji Aromatherapy garden, which includes areas for family picnics as well as reflective meditation. The Listening Forest showcases the sound of wind moving through bamboo. Special tree species, chosen for their unique bark textures, populate the Touch Garden—an area set aside for children’s play.

The Listening Forest makes use of a chime canopy, inspired by local stone chimes. Visitors are invited to create their own sounds, which are recorded and played back in an interactive light display each night. The contrasting tones of bamboo and stone guide users through the space.

A unique interactive playground for children forms the southern border of the park. Large willows make cool shade for weary visitors, while also creating a textural experience that emphasizes touch. Climbing is encouraged in a variety of methods and textures, combining mounds of indigenous stone and nets suspended through soft textural plantings.

By enhancing and enticing each of the five senses, Jinan CBD Vanke Park serves the neighborhood and guests by provoking poetic landscape moments throughout the year.

For more information contact Michael Grove.

Sasaki colorful logo Sasaki 中文