The design concept takes the cue from the natural characters of the site, water and wind, and applies it to the making of physical spaces, composed of canals and program spaces linked by the path system. Layers of ripples are generated when blown by wind, then spreading away. Where ripples overlapping, meandering water flow facilitates phytoremediation while enclosed program spaces protect people from the wind; where ripples spreading out, calm and stretched gesture preserve and create large scale natural landscape, supporting soil and water desalination and coastal protection. The power of wind is showcased at the wind sports tracks and wind sculptures located in the open field following the prevailing wind direction.

Circular form was taken as a basic vocabulary in creating each space, to respond to the overall design concept of Dishui Lake, ‘a drop of water‘, making the park a coherent piece of the entire Dishui Lake area. Ten prototypes of circular spaces, which can take many variations in material and size, are applied to most of the programs in the park.

As a key component of the local open space system and a coherent part of the entire Dishui Lake area, the park is closely connected with the adjacent communities and open spaces, creating a local recreational network and large wildlife habitat patches, to weave people’s life, work, joy into the larger regional ecological system.

Respecting the investment already made on the landscape, serving the development around the site, adapting to the existing site soil and water conditions, and considering development phasing at the entire Dishui Lake area, diverse landscapes are proposed for the park, including forests, tree groves, gardens, meadows, lawns, agriculture fields, wetlands, bodies of water, and plazas.

At the two western segments where the soil has been remediated and a large quantity of trees and major circulation have been established, the plan is focused on promoting park uses while respecting the existing landscape, such as providing better connection with surroundings via minor adjustments on the path system and via maintenance strategies, incorporating proper programs in various spaces, and creating park identity via memorable experience with characteristic landscape.

The rest of the site that has not been remediated yet has a high level of saline in the soil. Since the development in the adjacency will take a long time to happen, the plan is to remediate the soil via agricultural and pastoral practice over time, removing the saline content and increasing the nutrient level, eventually making the plant communities transition into a forest. Large areas of wetland beyond the park site will be incorporated in the desalination process and also will continue functioning as a buffer to prevent seawater seepage and attenuate big storms and waves.

Considering the urban development in the next ten years around the northern segment, more human interference may be required to accelerate the succession process, so that these two segments can be used as urban parks focused on education and science, and entertainment when the adjacent developments are in place.

Since it will take a while for Lingang to develop, the park will form its shape with time and adjacent development progress in a dynamic process. In the early stage of the development, the park contributes more to the ecological restoration, while after most developments are in place, the landscape in the park will grow more mature and become a very diverse and unique destination in Lingang.

Given the scale of the site, adjacent land uses and the existing landscape types as well as its possible uses in the future, the site, instead of a single park, is more appropriate to be considered as a park system with a series of parks well connected together. Based on the adjacent land use and the existing landscape, every park segment is endued with unique landscape theme.